


Comeback

by Rivinia



Category: Lost Boys (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2019-11-14 12:29:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 51,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18052526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivinia/pseuds/Rivinia
Summary: The fight is over and the Santa Carla vampires are destroyed. But are they really? Who survived and who didn't? Will there ever be a pack of vampires again, with the hunters around? Would vampires really care? And may it be that some of them meet again?I don't own the Lost Boys or any of its original characters. I only own my OC's and situations I'll put them into.





	1. The end of the game

1987

The fight was over and the vampires were gone. After the Frog brothers went back to their store, grandfather James Martens sat with his family in front of their house. This house was his home since he was married, and now it was almost destroyed, just like the bloodsuckers.

To remediate the house would take to much time and he was to old for things like this. And he would never feel safe again in here, so he decided to burn it. He had another house at the opposite side of the town, for usual it was to rent, but at the moment nobody lived there. So they had another nice house, not as big as this one, but it would do.

And burning this house meant burning the vampire's corpses. James looked at his daughter and grandsons. „Okay, listen, you get only what you really need out of the house, then we'll burn this place and go to the other one,“ he told them.

His family looked at him shocked, of course they did, they had just moved in a little time ago, but James wouldn't change his mind, it had to be done.

Sam opened his mouth to say something, but closed it when he noticed his grandfather's serious expression.

The girl, Star, James remembered, watched every move he made. The little boy sat on her lap, and both of them didn't look very happy. 

He knew the two of them had no place to stay after the vampires were dead. He had seen Star's tears, when she stood beside the vampire boy that was impaled by the antlers.

 

Mr Martens hadn't missed that she gently stroked the vampires hands and gave him a peck on the cheek. And she had said something to this guy. James could tell, they had been close. Nobody else had noticed it, but he had. He didn't trust that girl, and hoped she wouldn't stay for too long.

And Laddie, the boy, okay he was to young to really understand what had happened to him, but for him the vampires were family, and the native one seemed to be something like a father to him. Perhaps Lucy would be able to find the little boys real family soon.

When they had packed their belongins, they sat down again for a while. Grandfather had never been sentimental, but now he just had to stay for a while. Everybody had a drink, James had given Michael, Lucy and even Star a bottle of his beloved root beer, the other two boys were too young.

 

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James and Michael had pulled David's body away from the antlers. This deer had been grandfather's favorite. It would move with the family and would get a new place after it would be cleaned.

It didn't take a long time for David to open his eyes again. He had heard Stars poor excuse, and he had felt her kiss, but then she was gone, again!

David's chest hurt like hell, and he felt different. It was trouble getting out of his coat and jackett. He had pulled his shirt up to have a look at his chest, and he couldn' t believe that the holes already were gone.

Max had told him once, that it could be possible for a vampire to get human again when the sire was destroyed, as far as the vampire's heart still was intact. But it had only happened two or three times during Max's immortality, and he had been almost six hundred years old.

David always told Max that had to be bullshit, but now he knew it better. He had tried to fly to the ceiling, but he failed. His strength was gone, and for usual he would be able to listen to the humans outside or to hear their heart, but he heard nothing. He was't a vampire anymore, wasn't he supposed to be dead, like Paul and Dwayne? That was real bullshit!!

 

It was hard for human David to get his brother's remains out of the house. Leaving them inside was no option. It had not taken David long to find usefull things to help him. Mr Martens was used to bring deer in his taxidermy room with the handbarrow, and now David used it for Dwayne and Paul.

He was just leaving through the backdoor, when he noticed the sent of fire, he had to hurry, and he had to bother about Marko.

David, Dwayne and Paul had fed their blood to their injured brother before they had left the cave to bring Star and Laddie back and to wreak revenge on the stupid wanna-be-hunters .  
The kids had staked Marko while he was sleeping, but they had missed his heart.

David and Marko would come back later and bury their fallen brothers, and then they would leave Santa Carla. David had to walk all the way to the cave. He would be in the sun again, that made him smile and gave him hope.

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David considered before he entered the cave, he felt to be in a precicrious position. Marko had always been a snakier vampire against his victims. Most times he looked out for young women who would never talk to someone like the Lost Boys. Women who thought to be something better, rich chicks, whose job were to be „daddys little girl“, the ones that never knew how to be grateful.

Marko loved it to make a conquest of them, then he turned away, and they came after him, and then he showed this girls his true nature, and then they were history. David was not immortal anymore, but what about Marko.

David heard his brother swear, while he stood close to the enrtance. He hesitated a little longer, but finally he walked into the main room, and stood beside the fontaine.

Marko was on the other side and watched David confused, when he noticed it was only David. Marko backed off when his brother closed the distance between them.

David stopped moving, and both men looked to the ground. „Are we still brothers,“ he broke the silence. Marko looked into his eyes. „I hope so,“ he answered.

 

David walked over to him and placed his hand onto Marko's shoulder. „How do you feel,“ he asked.

„Different, what about Paul and Dwayne,“ he quetioned. David looked at him with a sad smile. „We need to bury them,“ he eventually replied.  
Marko grabbed an empty bottle, and tossed it to the wall. „That sucks,“ he screamed with tears in his eyes.

David looked at him with a serious expression. „I'm different,“ he explained. Marko shrugged his shoulders. „Like you can not fly anymore different,“ the young man asked.

David just nodded. „Me too,“ Marko told him. „We'll age now,“ he added. His brother nodded again. Both of them sat down on the fontaine with a beer.

David told Marko the whole story. „Like I said before, we bury them, and then we'll leave the town. Everybody thinks we are dead, and we should leave it that way.“

Marko shook his head yes. „Where will we go,“ he asked. David smiled at him. „Any ideas,“ he asked. Marko shrugged his shoulders. „Lets take shovels and do this now,“ he said.

„Okay,“ David answered. „Vampire or not, I don't want to leave their remains to the sun. They were loyal brothers to us all the years. I will miss them,“ he added. „ We'll miss a lot of things in the future I bet, but at least there will be the two of us,“ Marko answered.

The both men packed some of their belongings into their backpacks, took their stashed money and walked to the place where their bikes were hidden.

At sunrise they passed the town sign. 'We hope you enjoyed your stay' was written on it. David and Marko just looked at each other. 

'We killed people,' David thought. 'We had fun while we killed them!'


	2. Edgar and Alan

Chapter 2: Edgar and Alan

Edgar and Alan went back home in silence. Of course, they knew David and his gang, everybody with a store at the boardwalk did. These guys got into trouble many times but Edgar and Alan were aware that other gangs started it most times. David and his gang only defended themselves. The Lost Boys simply ignored most people, and most people ignored them. Many times when other gangs swear at them, the four men just looked trough these guys as if they weren't there.

The Frog brothers just thought these bikers were odd, but vampires, they never suspected them. If somebody treated children bad, and something like this happened very often when the kids crossed the path of some of the gangs, David's gang helped the kids when they were around.

The one with the patched jacket had been in their shop many times. He bought masses of comic books.

Edgar and Alan still couldn't believe that they just had to stake this guy. He had always been friendly, and even one night he made sure that the 'Surf Nazis', another gang didn't steal some comics.

Even the platinum blond guy had once helped Edgar and Alan against them when their parents hadn't been around. David's behavior was very impersonal for usual and the stare from his ice-blue eyes sometimes scared Edgar and Alan, but still, he had helped them when the Surf Nazis tried to steal comics once more. He accompanied the man with the patched jacket many times into the comic shop.

Just these men had to be vampires, and even Max, the Frogs often had rent videotapes at Saturday evenings in winter, when they had nothing better to do. Max had always been nice. Killing them really sucked, but the boys had no choice, it had been them or the vampires.

The Frog brothers had always surmised that vampires roamed Santa Carla. This town was a haven for supernatural creatures like ghouls, werewolves, and vampires. The information board wasn't filled with pictures of missing people without a reason.

It happened sometimes, that one of the vampires had someone on the back of his bike, but for usual these kids were back at the boardwalk one of the following nights.

When the boardwalk closed for the night, it was always only the four men, the girl and the little boy that rode away together. The girl always was on the platinum blond's bike, and the little boy always rode with the brunette one.

Vampires needed human blood to survive, Edgar and Alan knew that, of course! Everybody knew that. Perhaps these pack was just smart enough not to feed on the young people everybody had seen them with.

The Surf Nazis didn't come back after they had a fight with the vampires one night. And there had been the nightwatchman Big Ed, who had told all of them to leave the boardwalk he also wasn't seen ever again. Edgar and Alan knew Big Ed and the Surf Nazis were a pain in the ass of many people. Nobody was surprised that they were missed one day. They had been the only missing persons that had ever to do with the bikers.

Edgar and Alan could be sure, there were no more vampires in Santa Carla, the town was too small for more than one pack of them. But they also could be sure that the missing board still would be filled. There were other supernatural beings in Santa Carla. The town was a haven for them. Of course, it was! Every summer there were tourists from all over the world. During the summer and spring, Santa Carla was crowded. Many runaways also came to town, because everybody knew that Santa Carla police would never put much effort into looking for them.

There lived a pack of many werewolves in Santa Carla, they were in high positions in townhall and the police department. The Frog family never knew who they were. It was hard to hunt them down because they had a usual life, they were able to work in the daytime. They had families. It was a problem for a hunter, every kid these families had, would be a werewolf. This way their packs got bigger and bigger, all they needed was enough time. Because their alphas had high positions in town hall they were able to make sure that the cops didn't find missing persons. The wolves were smart, they would never let a strange person get close to their pack members.

Edgar and Alan were young boys, they had no experience, they had never seen a vampire before they got into the cave and of course, they didn't have the ability to recognize a werewolf. In a way both of the boys felt sorry for the vampires that they had destroyed tonight, they had never harmed them.

But certainly, that couldn't stop the Frog brothers from hunting the nightcrawlers. Sam had become their friend and his brother was in danger to become a vampire. There was nothing else Edgar and Alan could do.

The years had passed by, and the time after the battle against the Santa Carla vampire pack had been peaceful, almost boring.

The two boys had never forgotten their mission to kill the undead, and they had never missed practicing their skills for battles against them. Markus Frog, the boy's father was a good teacher.

He and Jane, his wife had been hunters for a long time. They quitted it, after Jane's brother Dan was bitten by a werewolf and became one himself. He had told inside knowledge about his pack to his sister but ended it when the pack leader cowed Dan's family. Dan cut contact with his sister and her family. He married and had a daughter many years before Edgar and Alan were born. Dan's daughter was named Michelle, but Edgar and Alan didn't know her.

Jane and Markus stopped hunting the werewolves, they had to change the order of priorities anyways after Edgar was born.

Markus made graphics for some vampire and werwolf comics, which also advised how to notice supernatural beings. He made enough money with them to buy the comic book store.

He didn't hunt anymore, but he still warned everybody who set a foot into his shop, and all of his customers got the horror comics he once made for free.

It took only two days until Markus and Jane were known as the boardwalks weirdos, but it didn't bother them, they just knew the truth.

Edgar and Alan went on with their father's tradition around the horror comics, that way they got to know Sam, and without him perhaps the vampires would still be around.

At the age of twenty, Edgar started his mission, always with Alan at his side. They researched in the newspapers, and they traveled to towns with high rates of missing people.

So they drove in their trailer from city to city and destroyed one vampire pack after the other. In 1997, the young men were informed by their parents that Sam Emmerson went missing.

He was on his way home from San Francisco, where he had an appointment with his psychologist. In Santa Carla, he stopped to get pizza for Michael and himself. He never came home, but his car was found in the parking lot on the boardwalk two days later. The image of Sam was just a new face of many on the board for the missed people.

Edgar and Alan had talked about going home, but they doffed the idea. They had a business to do. Both men were sure there was no way to help their friend anymore, he would be dead or he already would be a creature of the night. If they would be lucky and find him, none of them would be able to kill him, they had always been close friends.

In the year 2012, they noticed vampires in Washington and traveled there to destroy them. They had figured out that even statesmen were involved. They started taking out the low ranking ones first and killed many of them.

But when the job had almost been done, Alan was bitten. He became a half-vampire and had been no help anymore. He lived in a secluded part of his hometown in a trailer. He stuffed animals and sold them. How this worked, he had learned as a boy from Mr. Martens, who was happy that at least one out of the three boys was interested in his work.

It was a useful side benefit that he could drink the animal's blood. Six years later Edgar got into a car crash and broke his leg. He decided to take a time out and went back to Santa Carla by bus.


	3. Laddie

James and his family quickly settled into the new house. Star and Laddie also lived with them in the beginning.  
Lucy tried to find out where the boys parents lived, she couldn't understand, why nobody was looking for the boy. If he would be her son, she would never stop searching until he was back home.

The real name of the kid was Gabriel Thompson, and he was eight years old.  
He never told her why he was a runaway, but he had told Lucy his parents names, Madita and Daniel Tompson.  
What should Lucy say, if a kid that age prefered to live in the street, instead of his home, there had to be a good reason for it.

The boy was actually lucky that the vampires had taken him in. Sure, they made a half vampire out of the boy, although Lucy wasn't sure how that was possible, but still these undead guys had been clever enough to make sure that the boy wouldn't change fully, for he was much to young.  
No matter what these men were, they had taken care of the child and made sure he had everything he needed.

Laddie talked a lot about his „lost family“, especially about the brunet one. He seemed to be a father figure to the kid.  
The vampire had never harmed the boy in any way, and Dwayne had taught his fosterling a lot of useful things about nature.  
The both of them had often been in the woods, and the brunet had explained plants and animals they had seen there. This guy knew exactely what was poisonous, or what someone could eat.  
He told the boy, that freedom was the highest good for all living beeings.

 

Dwayne also had big knowledge about the stars, and sometimes at night they lay on the top of the cliffs, and the vampire explained the constellations to the child.  
Before Laddie went to sleep in the morning, Dwayne used to read the adventures of Tom Sawyer to Laddie. It was the kids favorite book.

David sat other priorities, he explained to the boy to be loyal to the family, and treat others with respect, no matter if somebody would be rich or live on the streets.  
He told the kid that someone couldn't expect things like this without behaving accordingly.  
David was not as patient as Dwayne, but he tried hard, and the boy loved it to listen to the leader's calm voice, when he told one of his storys to the kid.  
David knew plentys of thrilling storys, he probably should, he already lived for a very long time, even though he looked like a young man.

Out of the four vampires, Paul had benn the most funny one. He often took the kid to the rides on the boardwalk.

He also let Laddie help, when he fixed one of the motorbikes with David. The tall blond vampire explained how to use the tools, and where to find them in the big red toolbox.

On first sight someone would think Paul was just another pothead, but to be honest, he was quite intelligent, like his brothers, and liked a joint from time to time, just like his brothers. Paul was good-tempered for a vampire.  
All of them liked to listen to music, like Judas Priest, AC/DC or Iron Maiden, and all of them liked to party.

Marko shared his comic books with Laddie and told him a lot about the music, the vamires liked.  
He teached the boy how to sew patches onto a jacket. The had started one together. Of course Laddie wasn't as persistent as Marko was, his jacket would take a little time.  
Marko even liked to knit. He had made a colourful beanie for Laddie, but the boy had lost it one day. Marko promised him a new one.  
David always grinned and shook his head when the younger vampire sat in the cave with his knitting needles, but of course he was aware that his brother just needed something useful to do.

 

Alone ine the cave they just acted around each other like every usual family would. To the other vampires David was a father figure, because he was the oldest, and they were changed by his blood.

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After two weeks of research Lucy got in contact with Laddies parents, and they came to Santa Carla to get their son back home.

Lucy had a bad feeling, when Madita and Daniel Thompson entered the living room, and Laddie didn't look very happy to see them. The boy took shelter behind Michael and James.  
The young couple seemed to be stoned and they smelled of alcohol.

When Daniel realised his son didn't say a word to them, he looked at Lucy. „Mrs. Emerson, we're very grateful that you found our son, and took care for him. We really hope he didn't couse you any trouble.“

All the time Madita watched her son carefully. „Sweety,“ she finally said. „Don't you want to say hello to your parents? You went missing almost a year ago. We didn't know what happened to you.“

But Laddie didn't move, bashful he looked to the ground.  
Daniel looked at him with anger in his face. „Didn't you hear your mother, you little shit,“ he questioned the boy. „What did you think you were doing by running away?“

The boy looked at his father with tears in his eyes and made a step into his mother's direction. He was stopped by Michael, who looked Daniel dead in the eye. „I don't see a little shit around,“ the young man said. „I only see a big one, and that is you,“ he added.

„Michael, stop that,“ Lucy said. „Sam, Star, would you two do me a favour and take Laddie to his room, while we talk to his parents!“

Daniel just grinned, when his son left the room, his wife didn't even notice.

Lucy looked at her. „Aren't you happy, to get your little boy back, didn't you miss him,“ she asked. Madita only looked at her as if she had two heads. Lucy raised her eye brows. „He is such a nice kid,“ the older woman added, when Madida failed to respond.

 

„Nice kid,“ Daniel spat contemptible. „This boy is nothing but trouble!“

Michael looked at Laddie's father, and it was hard for him not to push the stoned man out of their house.

Madita sat down and looked to the ground. She somewhere had a tender heart, but drug abuse had destroyed her, and she knew better then to open her mouth while she was in one room with her husband. He would punish her afterwards.  
Madita loved her little son, but to be a better mum to him, she would need to leave her husband, but Daniel would never let her and the kid alone.  
„I missed him a lot,“ she whispered. „It's almost a year that I didn't see him, and now he doesn't even want to talk to me, but perhaps he is right to act like this, I have never been a good mother to him!“

James and Lucy looked at her sympathetic. Until now the old man hadn't said something. He knew Lucy was right about the boy. He was nice and grateful. He tried to help with all the work around, most times he helped him to care for the horses, or cleaned the dishes. He even was to shy to ask for something.

„Listen Mr. Thompson,“ James finaly said. „I may be an old man, but I'm not blind. I think that neither you nor your wife will be able to give this kid a proper home at the moment. You should solve your problems before you take the boy home!“

Lucy and Michael smiled and nodded at the old man's statement, but of course Daniel didn't agree.

„You are talking about our son,“ he shouted. „It doesn't bother us, what you think!“

James nodded, ready to avert a blow. „Okay you two want us to call the police,“ he asked.

Madita looked at the old man. „No, please,“ she said. „No police, we'll leave!“ Daniel looked at his wife dissaprovingly. „Okay, we'll leave,“ he said with anger in his voice. „But we're not done here, we'll be back!“

He stormed out of the house, followed by Madita. She stopped at the door, and looked at Lucy. „Please tell him I'm sorry,“ she said embarrassed. Lucy nodded.

Daniel and Madita never came back, but the police did. They had Sophia Smith in tow, she was a social worker from child welfare. The Thompsons had reported Lucy and James for rehabbing minors. As usual the both of them had benn drunk and stoned, so they were put into a drunk tank.

After talking to the boy for almost a hour, Sophia took him to San Francisco, where she had organized a place in a foster family.  
The time Laddie had spent as a half vampire had of course left its mark. Allthough he was just a boy, he had to deal with depressions and problems at school. It was not possible for the boy to stay awake during the lessons, then he was bullied by the other children.  
He skipped school, and of course was punished by his foster parents. One day, the boy lost it, and screamed to them that he wanted his vampire family back. Next day Sophia Smith took him to another family, and everything started again.

But finaly even Laddie grew up. And despite his problems, he achieved an intermediate level of education. For a short time he was married, but his ex lived in Europe since Nissa, their little daughter was four years old.

Laddie never was able to forget his unusual family, and like they had been, he was a biker. His hair was long and dyed into the same colour Dwayne's hair had been. Dwayne had been Laddie's sire and of course was his role model.

Laddie made his money in a workshop that converted motorcycles for the disabled, he also was a tattoo artist.

After thirtyone years he had saved enough money to go back to Santa Carla and open up his tatoo studio, „DDMP- Tattoos“.

In the nights he often rode up to Hudsons Bluff. He couldn't get into the cave, because the stairs had been destroed by an earthquake, he just loved to watch the stars, like he had done with Dwayne all this years ago.


	4. Thorn

Chapter 4: Thorn

Max, Thorn's master had planned a special night with the woman, and the dog lay beside the table where they had dinner.

Thorn had been Max's loyal companion for many years. During the day, when the vampire was asleep, the hellhound made sure that noone dared to enter the property.

Max loved his dog and took good care of him. Once a month the animal got it's masters vampire blood, and that made him a hellhound.  
He would never attack people, unless he got a command from Max, or if he guarded him during the day.

One day Max noticed a man attack a girl of no older then twelve years old. He followed the man all the way home and killed him. There he found the dog, which was still a puppy at that time, and took it with him.

Earlier that day, while Thorn was watching outside, he had suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his chest. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew that something bad must have happened.

In the evening he watched the woman. She was exited and tried to explain something to Max.   
As she spoke, the dog noticed three of his four vampire brothers flying over the house, he barked to greet them.   
That in turn made the woman scream; what a jumpy person!

Some minutes later Max and the woman rushed out of the house. The same time Thorn heard the car drive away, he felt pain all over his body. It felt if someone had poured acid over him.

 

Then the poor dog gor a terrible headache and a leg went numb. He fell to the ground and cried.  
While he was laying there he felt this stabbing pain in his chest again, but this time in two places at the same time. Everything hurt him and he couldn't stop crying.   
This way he lay there for a few minutes, when the pain was gone, he got up again and jogged through the house.

Then the worst came, it was as if the white shepherd was on fire, and the mental connection to his master was gone.

The dog dropped to the ground, he knew something terrible had happened to Max. He had to find him.

He jumped back up and ran to the front door. Thorn knew exactly how to open it. The dog simply followed his master's scent, and finally it reached the big house on the hill.

The firemen just packed up after they put out the fire. Early in the morning the man were able to return to the fire station and the dog entered the house. In front of the fire place the animal sat down waiting for Max to come back and at least fell asleep.

In the evening James came back to his old place, he was looking for some of his tools and found Thorn. The old man was not sure, what he should do with the animal.   
Of course he knew it had bin Max's hellhound, but James liked dogs, so he took Thorn home, perhaps Nanook would be happy to have a buddy.


	5. Star and Michael

Chapter 5: Star and Michael

 

It had been almost a month since Michael and Sam had killed the vampires with the help of Edgar and Alan. Laddie lived in a foster family because his parents were currently not able to care for him, and James now lived with his family in his other house. The school would begin soon, and even Michael had agreed to go back.

The family now lived at the other end of town and closer to the boardwalk. Also, the way to school was shorter, Lucy didn't have to worry so much anymore, when Sam went alone there.  
Star, Michaels girlfriend, didn't want to go back to her father, and at the age of seventeen, she was old enough to help decide where she wanted to live.  
Sophie Smith had talked for a long time to Lucy and James, who still did not trust Star. The three had finally asked Ella Johnson for the interview, who had already agreed in advance to take the young woman in. Star was happy to have a nice new home, she liked the older woman.

Michael and Star met every day, but soon they knew, that the affection they had for each other had died with the vampires. They still visited each other now and then, but always split up in a fight.  
Michael simply didn't want to understand why the young woman had stayed with the vampires voluntarily for so many months and therefore constantly reproached her.  
Star tried to make him understand that the four vampires had treated them well, that they weren't just bloodthirsty monsters and that they always had taken care of Laddie and her, that they were family to them.  
David, Marko, Paul, and Dwayne had given the two runaways a home, even if it was not conventional.

 

Star explained and explained, but the young man just didn't want to hear about it. To him, the four were nothing more than cold-blooded killers, and nothing could change that. Michael had liked David and felt betrayed by him.

Michael had missed, that Star had taken a piece of jewelry that night from each of the vampires, so she could always have a part of them with her.  
The counterpart of David's earring he had put into her earlobe after the first night they had spent together with a smile. "So everyone knows you belong to me," he had just said.  
Nevertheless, she took his silver bangle with his name engraved on it. She took a ring from Paul and Dwayne, which they always had worn on their little fingers.  
Star knew were Marko kept his belongings in the cave, and in the morning after the vampires had died, she went to the cave for the earring, that matched his. She was surprised, that all his jeans and shirts had disappeared, but thought nothing of it.

The last time she met Michael, Star wore the jewelry she had taken from the vampires. She also didn't like to wear pretty skirts anymore. Instead, she was in tight ripped jeans and a band shirt that Paul had lent her at some point. Because she had tied back her hair, the conspicuous earrings caught Michael's eye, and then he noticed the rest.  
Horrified he looked her up and down, she was no longer the girl he was in love with. She was very pale and even thinner than before. She had dark rings under her eyes; obviously, she didn't sleep enough. But the worst thing he found was Marko's black skull earring.

"Is this your new disguise," he asked. "Don't you think it's silly?" Star looked down embarrassed and shook her head sadly.  
"I miss them," she finally said. "Whatever the four had been, they had been my family!"  
Michael shrugged his shoulders and looked at her appraisingly. "Family," he replied. "They were monsters, bloodthirsty killers, that's all! I saw, what they were capable of. Be lucky they're gone. That's what you wanted!"

"I didn't want them to die, they didn't deserve it," she answered sadly. "I made a big mistake, I know that now. And believe me, I'm ashamed, I've betrayed my family, I can never make it up to them!"  
Michael took one step towards her and held her by the shoulders. "There's nothing to make up for! They're gone and you'll never see them again!"  
He pushed her away, turned around and disappeared. That was the final end of Michael and Star.

He had nothing better to do than to walk directly into the comic book store, where he also met Sam, and to tell them about his meeting with Star. "Who knows, maybe she's still a bloodsucker," Edgar said. "Don't worry, we'll keep an eye on her!"

Michael became a very suspicious young man, he didn't let anybody get close and that way couldn't make friends. But at some point, he had finished school and finally even got married. But because he even did not trust his wife, he was divorced again after only two years.  
After that, he started to get involved in the church. He took care of homeless people and runaways. Together with his mentor, he built up a contact point for all the "lost". Finally, he celibate and was ordained, priest.

Star couldn't find his way back to civic life. She struggled with guilt and fought depression. She was also otherwise ill. She had poor blood work and always felt weak. Obviously the vampire blood had left its mark on her system. The doctors told her she was suffering from some kind of anemia.  
With Ella's connection Star got a job in a bridal fashion store. Actually, she liked this work and Leni, her boss was very friendly.  
But every time she got back home, Star was just tired and slept. Ella often had to remind her of her domestic duties.

But that was still the smallest problem. Much worse was that the young woman, every time she was asked to advise a bride, her thoughts were with David and the time they had spent together.  
Everything that had happened to the vampires made her sad, just as her father had. The whole life her father had lied to her.

He had raised the girl alone and told her that Ines, her mother had died in an accident when Star still was a baby.  
On her last birthday, she had spent at home, her father's youngest brother visited them. She didn't know him because her father had broken off contact with his family.  
In the evening she heard the two men arguing, and it was about their father refusing to tell her the truth. Ines wasn't dead at all, she had left her husband and taken their daughter with her.  
Star's father didn't want her to look for a job, he didn't want her to go out, but she loved going to the theatre with her friend.  
He wanted her to take care of the child and the household and take her mind off things.  
He had very old-fashioned views, and he brought the child to his home and made sure that Ines was denied contact with her daughter.

Of course, Star confronted her father after her uncle left, but she just got slapped. Therefore she ran and finally came to Santa Carla, where she met David and the other Lost Boys.  
The vampires noticed the young woman sleeping on the beach one night because she had no shelter. They offered her a place to sleep.  
She accepted the offer with gratitude, although she felt intimidating to David and Dwayne. But then she fell in love with David, he had  
charisma and treated her nice.

Dwayne didn't talk much in principle, but when he had something to say, everyone listened, and his watchful eye never missed anything.  
Paul usually was in a good mood and very relaxed. He often made Star laugh and she felt very comfortable around him. Marko was rather reserved towards her, but never unfriendly.

One evening David gave her his very special wine to drink. "Drink with us," he just said. "You must be one of us!"  
Star did as he wished. She wanted to be one of them, but could not understand what was so special about this wine.  
The young woman had drunk wine before, but she never felt that everything in her head was spinning, and she felt lively and free.  
She put the bottle on the table and looked at four tense faces. Nobody said a word, and if it wasn't for the thunder of the sea against the cliffs, you could have heard a pin drop.

Star did not understand what was going on with her and suddenly she felt the need to kiss David, oh what, she would love to rip off his clothes immediately.  
However, the aftertaste of the wine was strange. It was sweet and kind of tasted of iron, just like David's kisses.  
As if he could read her mind, a grin spread on his face. "How do you feel," he asked. Embarrassed Star looked down. "Free," she finally answered and smiled at him.  
Then he kissed her and the others cheered. Someone turned on the boom box and Paul pulled her out of David's arms to dance with her.  
They p partied the whole night and shared some joints, Marko and Dwayne had made.

The young woman slept the whole day, and when she woke up, she felt thirsty like never before, and she had a stomach ache. It was the worst hangover she ever had.  
The four men took her to the boardwalk. She wasn't really hungry, but her companions told her that a slice of pizza and water would help.  
"Believe me, baby," Paul said. "We all had to go through it.

He was right, she felt better after dinner. The boardwalk had never seemed so bright to her before, even in the darkest corners she could see everything. And it seemed much louder than usual.  
As the rides closed, Dwayne, Paul, and Marko looked at their leader expectantly. David looked at his girlfriend and then again at his brothers.  
"How about it," he asked with a grin. "Are you hungry? She now should know what we are, shouldn't she?" Star was confused, but the other three just nodded with a grin.  
David laid his hand on Dwayne's shoulder. "Where," he asked him. Dwayne smiled. "Behind the dunes," he replied, passing his thumb over his shoulder behind him.

David took Star's hand and walked her towards the dunes. The three other men followed them. Behind the dunes five young people were dancing around a campfire, they were obviously very drunk.  
Star and her companions joined them and everyone got a beer. "No bloodbath," David ordered mentally. "I want her by my side after all!" Marko rolled his eyes, but all three nodded.  
The four men's faces changed. Their cheekbones were higher and their eyebrows bushier, but the worst was the blood-streaked yellow eyes and long pointed fangs.  
Star wasn't the only one who screamed and tried to run away, but David held her by the wrist with one hand while he had a young man in an iron grip with the other.  
Star smelled the victim's blood and felt her own fangs drilling into her lower lip. But she could not kill these people, which disappointed David and his brothers.  
During the whole ride back to the cave her tears were running, she could not believe what she had just experienced.

In the cave, David sat down next to Star on the bed and took her hand. "Now you know what we are," he said. "We never grow old and we never die, but to survive we need to feed. Now that you're one of us, you're gonna have to do the same!"  
She shook her head. "Why me," she asked. David looked at her thoughtfully, then smiled. "We like you, and I want you to be my mate, I had no choice! The first victim is always the worst, but after that all you have to do is listen to your instincts, it's not as bad as it seems, you'll see!"  
Then he told her how he had become a vampire himself. David Alexander Jones was born in 1906. He was the youngest of three children.  
The Jones family was doing pretty well financially because their grandfather had his own business.  
When he died, David's father took over the company, driving the family to ruin with his poker games. The family lost everything, David was twenty-one years old at the time.

He took every job and helped his mother keep the family afloat. But when his father took his own money for the third time, the young man had enough. He grabbed his belongings and moved to his sister.  
At that time he had a job in a prestigious hotel, he dragged suitcases for all the rich treated him in a lofty manner.  
David hated this behavior, he always had a heart for people who weren't so lucky in life. He threw coins into the hats of beggars as a teenager, and his father had always mocked him for it.  
And so one night he met his sire. On the way home David saw a woman was sitting on the pavement with her baby.  
Wordlessly, he gave her part of his wages. His sire saw it, he liked this young man and he had to have him. The woman was the last one to see David, then he was untraceable.

David knew why Star had run away, and he encouraged her to look for her mother. It would not be a good idea to contact her, but he could well understand that the young woman wanted to know where she came from.  
But he also confessed to her that he had secretly visited his own mother when she was dying. He explained to Star that she could only observe her mother from a distance, that's how he himself had done it with his family.

After the four vampires realized that Star was not ready to kill innocent people, they distanced themselves from her, only Paul stayed a friend to her.  
David also withdrew from her and the four men mostly stayed among themselves after they had brought Star to the boardwalk.  
The young woman felt lonely, but then Laddie came into the family and she had someone to care for.

Yes, that's how it was with Star, she remembered everything when she got the order to show one of the wedding dresses. She imagined she was David's bride and it was her dress.  
Her biggest problems were Edgar and Alan. The brothers kept stalking her. They called the young woman names and sprayed holy water into her face.  
Once, when she was almost home, they threatened her with a wooden stake; but Ella saw this and chased away the two boys. Star's had enough of the city.  
She packed up her things and left town under another name.  
She had learned out that her mother lived in New Orleans, that's where she wanted to go.


	6. 1997

Chapter 6: 1997

 

Sam left the building smiling. For the past ten years, he has been there regularly once a week for his psychotherapy. After learning in this brutal way ten years ago that vampires are real, and after his own brother almost became one, he was in desperate need of therapy.  
In the first years he was still brought there by his mother, but now that he was an adult himself, of course, he drove himself.  
Sometimes Lucy accompanied her son to San Francisco, then they went to some shops that did not exist in Santa Carla.  
That night Sam had his last conversation with Doctor Leeds, he felt good because he had finally made it.

He had achieved a lot in the past years. He had successfully completed his studies in mechanical engineering and got a job in a company in Capitola. The company manufactured machines for wood processing.  
He made enough money for a comfortable lifestyle. At the same time, he developed computer games, which he sold in his mother's shop. That also went very well.  
His friends Edgar and Alan had already left Santa Carla a few years ago and moved along the coast from town to town in a caravan. They destroyed one vampire's nest after another.  
Yeah, vampires, Doctor Leeds spent years making Sam realize those creatures didn't exist. Like most people, the psychologist was convinced that they were fiction.  
Sam, however, insisted on knowing better and kept telling Doctor Leeds about meeting them at his grandfather's house. That's why the young man's therapy took so long.

 

But then, one day, on the phone, he talked to Edgar about his therapy.  
"You know, Sam, that's the way it is with most people, they just don't want it to be true. Our father was already labeled a madman. Nobody wants to believe we save many lives with every vampire we kill. Why don't you just tell Doctor Leeds that you realize now that there are no vampires? Then you can stop this useless therapy and finally get rid of him!"  
And that's exactly what Sam did. He only told his therapist what he wanted to hear. Sam wasn't stupid. To celebrate the day, he wanted to buy Michael, his older brother a good meal and a bottle of wine. It was getting dark when Sam was on his way to the pizzeria. Michael and he often went there.

It was very comfortable there, and Toni, the owner, was very friendly. The service was also excellent and the prices were acceptable.  
Unfortunately, the large parking lot in front of the building was already full. So Sam drove to the small parking lot behind the house, which was a bit lonely and gloomy.

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While Sam was still on his way to Santa Carla, shortly after dark, a momentous accident happened on the property behind the house where James Martens had spent most of his life. He had given up ten years ago after his grandsons had successfully destroyed three vampires there. James himself was involved in the death of the fourth undead.

He had spent his whole life in Santa Carla, he was born there and would die there one day; and he knew exactly that there were vampires. But they were not the only supernatural beings there. Ghouls and werewolves held high positions in the city administration and police headquarters. Therefore James had always avoided driving closer to town than necessary.

But anyway, after the fight against the vampires his house was destroyed and he saw only one way to get rid of the remains of the cursed bloodsuckers. He made the house burn to the ground. Then he put up a high fence that surrounded the entire property. He attached signs to the fence saying: NO TRADING, DANGER OF COLLAPSE!

There were rumors in town about James' old house. Many residents were sure it was haunted, others said they saw strange lights at night; these people could not know it was just Michael Emerson's flashlight. The young priest often went there, when his nightmares plagued him, to think.  
That evening, however, four young men were riding their motorcycles, Martin, George, Henry and Andy belonged to a gang called The Town Rats. These young people often stayed near the property.

Some time ago, they had even partially dismantled the fence in order to be able to use their machines on the site. They came from a party and had already had some beer. They were going pretty fast. Martin was the first to drive onto the premises and overlooked a large stone that lay directly in front of him.

When he finally noticed the stone, he unfortunately only pulled the front brake. At the same time, his front wheel bounced against the stone. Martin flew in a high arch over the handlebars and his upper body was impaled by the meanwhile brittle crosses that stood on Dwayne's and Paul's graves.

Ten years earlier David and Marko had tied two stable branches together to form a cross and placed one on each grave of their fallen brothers. Because of the high grass, the Town Rats had never noticed these crosses. One of the crosses hit Martin's heart and his blood seeped into the graves of the two vampires. One could almost watch how it was literally absorbed by the earth.  
Martin was the youngest in the gang, he was only eighteen years old.

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Good-humored and with a smug grin on his face Sam left Toni's Pizzeria. He was looking forward to a good meal and the delicious wine with his brother. He circled the building, arrived at the car, he put the wine on the floor and the pizza on the roof, to look for the key in his pocket.

He was just about to open the car door when he heard a dark laugh behind him. He turned around but saw no one. Uncertain, he turned back to his car. On the other side, in the shade, he saw a figure watching him.  
The young man was shocked and almost dropped the wine he had just picked up from the ground. "Well, well, well," said a dark voice behind him. "What do we have here?"  
Sam slowly turned to the voice, he had heard it before, but just couldn't remember where.

"Yes," replied the figure, who was still hidden in the shadows. "And he was kind enough to bring us something to eat." Even this voice recognized Sam if he could only remember, but it just didn't occur to him.  
Then this figure came around the car at an inhuman pace and suddenly stood next to the young man. He took the bottle out of Sam's hand, who was perplexed so he couldn't say anything. He was totally intimidated and just stood there.

"Oh, and look at this," the figure went on. "This is really good wine! How kind of you." Both figures laughed. "Must be some kind of reparation," said the first figure. "But I know something much better!"  
Sam finally found the courage to look into the faces of the two figures and was now totally horrified. One could only guess their facial features, they were disfigured. 

One of the characters had thick dark hair and the other...well, Sam thought he saw some tufts of honey-blond hair.  
However, he clearly recognized their yellow, blood-streaked pupils and long pointed canines. The young man cried, but one of the figures kept his mouth shut.  
When the catches of the two vampires pierced his neck and wrist, he peed in his pants.   
Then everything around him went black. Toni was the last person to see Sam Emerson, then he disappeared without a trace.


	7. Ginger

Chapter 7: Ginger

The young woman had been on the road for several days, but when she finally reached New Orleans, her destination, she looked completely different.  
She had interrupted her journey twice to stay in a motel. In the first motel, she had cut off her long, curly hair down to her shoulders. At the next stop, this change was no longer enough for her, without further ado, she had colored her hair red and straightened it.

She was no longer the beautiful young girl, she had experienced too many bad things. She was even thinner because she didn't eat enough - she just had no appetite.  
When she tried to sleep, she was plagued by nightmares and had dark rings under her eyes. 

She felt constantly being watched, so she pulled the hood of her dark sweatshirt jacket deep into her face when she was out and about - she didn't want to stand out under any circumstances.  
She wore only tight jeans, chucks, dark band shirts and dark jackets over it - the once radiant appearance had become a nerd who avoided talking to people more than absolutely necessary.

When Ginger finally arrived at her mother, Ines was completely horrified at her daughter's condition, which she had not seen for so many years.   
Ines tried very hard to spice up the young woman, she could hardly tell that Ginger slept through the days and walked restlessly through the house at night.  
The young woman simply did not want to tell her mother what had happened to her, and Ines filled up guilty because when Ginger was little, she hadn't fought more for the girl.

Ines was only sixteen years old when she gave birth to her daughter, her parents were strict believers and forced her to marry the child's father. This marriage was a prison for Ines, from which she had finally escaped. Only now did she realize the price she had to pay for it.  
The relationship between the two women was rather superficial and Ines told her friends that Ginger was her younger sister. She had accepted without question that her child had come to town under a false identity.

Ginger wanted to be independent and refused to go back to school, instead, she sought a job to have her own money.  
The relationship became better when it turned out that Ginger was pregnant. At first, she was devastated, but over time she looked forward to seeing her child, and Ines decided to get it right this time.

She had inherited some money from her second husband when he died after a long illness. Ginger would not have had to work in the first years, she would have been able to look after her child at home and see her grow up, but the young woman did not want to give up her independence and preferred to earn the living for herself and her child.

Several months later, Ginger gave birth to a healthy girl. It had very light blonde hair and pale blue eyes - the child looked very similar to its father.   
When Ginger saw the little one for the first time, she could not stop crying, what had she done, she was guilty of the death of the child's father.

Just one month after birth, the young mother returned to work while Ines took care of the baby.  
And then, three months later, that worst thing happened to Ginger. She got a call from the city, which she had left a few months ago.   
Ginger could not imagine how that was possible, but the two idiots who had threatened her there had found her.

Noone would ever be able to see a connection between Ginger and her mother, and she left the city after talking to Ines. She didn't take the baby with her, and she couldn't stop crying when she left.  
Ginger knew that her pursuers were just two stupid teenagers, but she was not so sure about their father. The young woman knew exactly what he had done before the birth of his sons.  
The evening after the conversation with her mother, Ginger got on the next bus to take her out of town.

She seldom called Ines, and after a while, she even didn't call anymore.  
For many years Ines didn't know where Ginger lived. It was not until 2018 that Ginger called her mother again.   
She learned that her daughter had moved to a city on the coast in California. There were an amusement park and a boardwalk.  
Ginger now had no choice, she had to go back to Santa Carla.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Coming home

 

The two men had left their accommodation a few minutes ago, where they had spent the last two months and were getting ready to ride their motorcycles to another city.  
There were two men, they were fifty-one and fifty-two, at least that was in their passports, actually, they were much older.

The property, a detached two-story house, belonged to an old couple, Maria and Joseph Molders. They had been looking for someone to fix their garden and renovate some rooms in the house.  
The two motorcyclists had seen the ad in the newspaper and got the job. Maria was a bit skeptical at the beginning when the two men finally stood at the door, but then the craftsmanship and the friendly demeanor of the men had convinced her.

Of course, Maria was aware that you would need to wear protective gear when traveling the country on a motorbike, so she was not irritated by the leather jackets and biker boots - it was much more the overall appearance of the men.  
It was a very warm day, so both men had taken off their jackets.

One was a tall guy named David, he had very fair blond, long hair. He had tied it into a braid with a black scarf. There was a large skull on his black t-shirt, beneath which stood in white letters "Life sucks".  
The shirt was in his black, tight leather pants, the belt was closed with a flashy skull buckle. His feet were in heavy black cowboy boots with spurs.  
His forearms were littered with tattoos - skulls, of course. Like his friend, he had another tattoo hidden under the right sleeve of his shirt - "The Lost Boys, Dwayne, Paul" and the date they had fallen.

The other man was almost a head shorter than David, his name was Marko. He wore faded blue jeans, a plain black shirt, and black doc martens. His arms were also covered with tattoos.  
He had tied his long, reddish-blond hair to a plaited braid with a leather strap. From the tips that peeked out from under the band, you could see how curly his hair must be.  
His big eyes were dark green, almost brown, and although he looked younger, he was, according to ID, the older of the men.

"Mrs. Molders," asked David, offering his right hand to the old lady in greeting. "I'm David, this is Marko, we talked to your husband last night about the work that needs to be done here."  
Maria hesitated for a moment, then nodded and shook her outstretched hand. "Yes, I know," she finally said. "Joseph, my husband is still on the way, but please come in. I've prepared the guest room for you."

Then she stepped aside to let the friends in the house. When Marko followed David inside, she also shook his hand, then the men followed her to the first floor, where the room was.  
"You want to freshen up after the long journey," said Ms. Molders. "The bathroom is right next door, in one hour the dinner will be ready, if you want, you are welcome, there are potatoes, gulasch and salad."

David and Marko exchanged a look and nodded. "We gladly accept the offer," Marko said finally. "Many Thanks!" The old lady nodded smiling and left the room. Marko quietly closed the door behind her.  
Then he turned to David, who was already getting fresh clothes out of his backpack.  
"Well, what do you mean," Marko asked, his grin hidden behind his hand. David shrugged. "She seems nice, we've done worse."

Marko nodded and started digging in his backpack as well. "We absolutely must ask for a laundrette," he remarked. David was now lying down on his bed, his fresh clothes lying next to him.  
"There was a time when we did not really care, and look at us now," he said with a grin and pointed to his clothes.  
" Marko dropped onto a chair. "Yeah, we must have stunk terribly, we used to run around in the same clothes for weeks, no wonder people avoided us," he replied.  
David started laughing. "Oh man," he said. "The worst thing was Paul with his white jeans if you could even talk about white at all."

Marko nodded, grinning. "Dwayne just stopped wearing shirts and thought the problem would have been solved," he replied.  
"But we were really lucky that we survived then." As always, when the men talked about their brothers, they both became very thoughtful and calm. It was so many years ago that they had lost them, but both could not forget.

After a while, Marko got up and headed for the door. David looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Hey," he called. "I'll go first! I do not feel like waiting until you've tamed your curls! I'm done faster!"  
Marko looked annoyed at his friend. "Sure, as always," he finally said. "Then go on, I'm hungry!"  
David went into the bathroom, grinning, while Marko dropped exhausted on his bed and thought about the past thirty-one years, he had already spent as a mortal.

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The first years were the worst for the men, it was hard to believe what they had to learn all new.  
For example, personal hygiene was not particularly important for vampires, but now both were sweating again and had to shower regularly and change their clothes.  
They now needed several meals throughout the day. In the beginning, they continued to eat only fast food because they were so used to it. Both then had to struggle with obesity. So they appropriated knowledge about balanced nutrition.

Yes, and then there was the thing about their sleeping habits. They had to change completely because they now had to work during the day to earn some money.  
As vampires, they had never really needed money, they had finally lived rent-free in their cave, and the little bit that they needed, they had taken from their victims - they did not need the money anymore.  
David and Marko had health problems, their blood and liver values were bad. They could no longer tolerate more than two glasses of beer.  
As vampires, they could drink as much as they wanted without any effect, but that was over. The vampire blood in her system had left a clear mark.  
Their psyche was also affected. Both knew how many lives they had on their conscience. Sure, they needed blood to survive. They had not enjoyed killing, well, not always.

There had been times when they had to live on animal blood, but please, try it yourself, it was not really satisfying. Nevertheless, the men felt guilty and were often very downplayed.  
It quickly turned out that neither David nor Marko was able to cope with fixed hours. So it happened that they moved from city to city and did the most diverse work for private people.

They renovated houses; repaired agricultural machinery, cars and motorcycles; they fixed gardens; helped with the harvest and looked after cattle herds. After the work was done, they moved on.  
Here and there were affairs with some women, but the men did not manage to build trust, and so the love affairs never lasted very long. Marko and David just did not fit into a normal, human life anymore.

The men often talked about their time together with their fallen brothers. Both wished for that time back, even if they never said it out loud.  
Both of them were in the opinion that Max, the vampire boss, did not think himself quite fit for his quest for the perfect family - Lucy Emerson was not the first woman he'd ever run this game with, but she was the first woman to survive it - but now they were grateful smart way of thinking.

Max had always made sure that David and his other sons had ID cards and driving licenses in which the year of birth corresponded to their outward appearance.  
Dwayne was the oldest at twenty-five when he became a vampire, followed by Paul, who was only one year younger. David was the youngest, he was only twenty when he met Max, and Marko was twenty-one.  
The four even had social security cards, but they did not consider it necessary to do any job as a vampire. David and Marko were aware of how arrogant and short-sighted they had been at the time, and that had almost killed them.

Now they could understand why Max wanted to live as normally as possible. Only then people did not notice that you were different. At that time, however, the younger vampires just wanted to have fun! Max had never given up hope that his sons would eventually become more solid.

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After Marko and David were done in the bathroom, they met Joseph Molders.  
He was as friendly as his wife and told that he had celebrated his eighth birthday a few days ago, so he was still forty-two years younger than David.  
He showed David and Marko the house and the garden and explained where the necessary tools were stored.

Something like a friendship developed between the old couple and the two friends over the weeks.  
Maria was a little sad when all the work was done. Marko and David were paid their wages at the last breakfast in the house of the Molders.  
The sum was much higher than actually agreed. David looked at Joseph questioningly, but he waved and smiled. "We are very pleased with what you have accomplished and we have been delighted to have you here," he explained.

Maria nodded. "If you're in town, just come over," she said. "Should you ever need accommodation, you are always welcome!"  
Marko and David smiled. "Thank you," said David, then the men went to their motorcycles.

"Where are we going now," Marko asked as he put on his jacket. David looked at him with a smile. "It's almost thirty-one years ago," he answered. "It's time to go home!"  
Marko smiled and nodded. "Santa Carla, we're coming," he said while he started the engine.


	9. Hope

Chapter 9: Hope

The little blond girl sat crying in the big chair at the school principal's desk, watching as he searched anxiously for her mother's phone number in his papers. Mr. Jackson's hands were shaking, he had been a director at this school for many years and had seen many crazy things, but he had never experienced anything like it.

He was shocked when Mrs. Muller, a first-grade teacher, brought the little girl to his office.

The child's face was smeared with blood, she sobbed loudly and trembled all over. Hope, that was the name of the little girl, she just did not know what she had done wrong.

She had been enrolled only a few weeks ago and played hopping boxes during the break. She was a bit shy and had not made any friends yet, so she played alone.

The other kids in the class were always very loud and yelling at each other, even though they were sitting right next to each other.

Hope did not like it when it was loud in the room, it hurt her ears. When she hopped through the pink box for the third time, she noticed that the other children were running under the tree where the cute black cat liked to be.

Hope liked cats that were not as loud as the dogs in the girl's neighborhood. The dogs always barked and growled when she passed one of the houses - she was scared of dogs.

It was that bad that she was sometimes plagued by nightmares. In those dogs hunted the girl, they were led by a big husky with blue eyes. The dogs wanted to kill Hope.

But then there was always this big blond man chasing the dogs away. Her rescuer in this dream looked weird, he had yellow eyes and catches like a predator, but he always smiled at Hope after chasing away the bad dogs, so the kid was not afraid of him.

But cats, especially this one, Hope liked them a lot. Because she was curious, she went over to the other children, but she was smaller than the others, she could not see anything.

She squeezed past two girls and then she saw the cat lying injured on the ground, the animal was bleeding heavily. Hope did exactly what she did when she herself was hurt and bleeding.

She licked the blood off - her wounds always closed immediately, but unfortunately, that did not work for the poor animal. It died in Hope's arms.

Will, a boy from her class suddenly called, "Hope killed the cat!" Hope did not hear that at first and looked sadly at the cat, her face bloodied.

But then some other kids shouted, "Hope killed the cat!" This caught Mrs. Muller's attention and she came over, squatted down in front of Hope, and turned the child over.

The breath caught at the sight of the child, the kid looked as if it had been from a horror movie. The blood of the cat was everywhere, on the clothes, in the light blonde hair, and in the child's face. "Hope has killed the cat, Hope is evil," all the children cried.

Ms. Muller called another teacher to take care of the other children, and she took Hope by the hand and pulled her into Mr. Jackson's office.

Hope cried. "I just wanted to make her healthy," she kept saying. Mrs. Muller first wiped the blood from the child's face and then asked what had happened, but Hope did not answer Ms. Müller or the director.

"I just wanted to make the cat healthy" was all the child said. Mr. Jackson then decided to call Mrs. Williams to call the child's mother - she had to pick up the child, the kid was not quite right in its head in his opinion.

Ines Williams came at once and hugged her crying daughter while she looked questioningly at Mr. Jackson, but he just shrugged. After calling his trainee, who took the distraught child to the anteroom, he turned to the child's mother.

"Ms. Williams, have you ever noticed that your daughter behaves a bit strange," he asked. Ines looked at the director furiously, what did the man think? She wasn't stupid. Hope was different than other kids, she had long been aware, but there was nothing vicious about the girl, so Ines just ignored it.

At the weekend, when Hope had no school, the child took every opportunity to lie down and sleep somewhere. When the kid was told to get ready for school, it often fell asleep in the bathroom, and when Ines sent the kid to play in the garden, Hope just dodged one of the heavy garden chairs, got herself a blanket and slept.

Even as a baby, she was always very active during the night, for Ines it was a hard time, she had to change her daily routine completely.

The eating habits of the little one also turned out to be strange. She wanted a piece of meat every morning for breakfast, but it had to be almost raw.

Ines could not look at Hope eating this raw meat. If the child got injured, she never cried. If she was bleeding, she simply licked of the blood. What surprised Ines most was that no matter how big a wound was, there was nothing to see the next day.

Mrs. Muller also noticed the behavior of the child, but it was not so bad that she had informed the director, now of course that was different. The child obviously had some problem and needed professional help. Ines had agreed with Mr. Jackson that she would make an appointment with a psychologist.

The following days were hard for Hope, she was teased and shoved by the other children, especially mean were Will and his friends. The teachers did not hear anything of this, and the little girl was ashamed to tell anyone.

Ines eventually had enough of her daughter coming home crying from school every day. She moved to Modesto with the child, hoping the problem would be solved.

Ines was very sad that she did not know where Ginger, her other daughter lived, so she could not inform them about the upcoming move.

Although Ginger had not called her mother for years, Ines was sure she would do that at some an emergency, she had the phone number of Rita, a close friend. She was the only one who knew Ines's little secrets.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The following years in Modesto went relatively well. Although Hope still had the problem that she even fell asleep sometimes in class, but apart from that, the child behaved reasonably normal.

The child's changes came slowly, and Ines did not notice them in the beginning.

Hope was now in puberty, complaining of pain on the incisors and gums at this point, but the dentist could not find anything that could trigger the pain - the girl had perfectly healthy teeth.

The pain was particularly bad when Hope was really annoyed for some reason, well, that was more often, like all children her age. Then she had abdominal cramps, but Ines attributed this to menstruation.

"Oh, mama," said the girl one day, "I have the cramps without having my period, it's corrosive!"

Then she ran to her room, locked the door and as Ines guessed correctly, Hope lay down in bed despite the loud music blaring from her speakers and slept through the rest of the day.

The cramps came more often, and Ines went to the doctor with the girl. He found no cause, the child was pretty healthy, she was only suffering from iron loosening, but the doctor told Ines that with proper nutrition, it could be managed.

But then, from one day to the next, Hope could not stand the sun anymore. After ten minutes, her skin was red, like a sunburn and the girl got headaches.

Hope has been very aggressive in school lately, and she exploded for the slightest reason. She never became violent to her classmates, but she slammed doors and threw her school supplies and chairs across the room.

The other teenagers were afraid of her and preferred to avoid her. There were numerous conversations with the school principal, but it did not help, and eventually, the girl was expelled from class.

Ines sought the conversation with her daughter. "Hope, dear, what's wrong with you," she asked.

Hope sat down at the table and started crying. Ines hugged the girl. "I'm worried, and frankly, sometimes I'm scared of you," she said.

The girl looked shocked at her and shrugged. "I don't know what's wrong with me," she finally answered.

"I'd like to help you, but I just don't know what to do," Ines replied.

Hope just looked pissed. "I do not want all that either," she finally yelled at her mother. "But it's always loud, I'm angry, my teeth hurt. Then I also get headaches and abdominal cramps, and I get even madder! The others still annoy me. If I did not throw anything, I would hurt somebody! But I do not want that! "

Now Ines looked shocked. "What do you mean when you say that you would hurt someone," she asked softly.

Hope looked down. "I want to bite the others, but I do not understand why," she replied quietly and bashfully. "I want to bite the others until blood flows," she added, then stormed into her room.

Ines was understandably desperate, but she would not give up her daughter that fast. Hope was nearly seventeen years, old enough to attend night school, so she could at least avoid the sun.

Although she would still have to deal with other students, they would be older and hopefully more mature. The next morning she talked to Hope about the matter and she was more than willing to change school.

Ines got a medical certificate that her daughter certified a sun allergy.

A few years later Hope got a diploma with very good grades. She became a social worker and spent four nights a week looking after homeless teenagers who lived on the streets in Modesto.

She told them where to get help, explained where she could get a hot meal for free, and once a week she gave hygiene items such as toothbrushes and toothpaste to the kids. She liked the work very much and was grateful that she could work at night.

One day she needed a certain document from her mother since it was already very late, and Ines was already asleep, she searched for it herself.

She had her birth certificate from a folder, Hope had never seen this document and was never interested in it. Of course, Hope knew about Ginger, Ines had explained to Hope that Ginger was her younger sister, Hope's aunt.

The birth certificate, however, said something very different. Hope was not Ines Kind, she was the daughter of Ginger. The document didn't tell something about Hope's father.

The young woman became angrier than she had been in a long time, and she immediately challenged Ines, she did not care that it was the middle of the night. Ines had lied to Hope all her life.

The situation escalated and Hope almost pushed Ines down the stairs. But now the whole truth came to light. Ginger was Ine's daughter, not her sister, as she had always said. The young woman lunged at her granny to bite her, at the last moment she let go of Ines and took a step backward.

There was a mirror next to the stairs. Hope was startled by her own reflection. She ran down the stairs and out of the house, she jumped into her car and left the city at breakneck speed.

It was not until many weeks later that she called Ines again and told her that she now lived in Santa Carla, there were more homeless teenagers, as in Modesto.


	10. Coming home 2

Chapter 10: Coming home 2

Hidden in the middle of the woods, on a road that was not supposed to be used by cars, stood the white, old Mercedes Van - well, Van was a bit understated, this vehicle was more like a small truck - such vehicles have not been around for a long time more built.

In the driver's cabin, there was a bench for the driver and two passengers. There were no safety belts, the vehicle was too old.

The loading area of the Mercedes was separated from the driver's cabin by a metal wall with a narrow window in the middle. The window was sprayed with black paint from both sides. In addition, opaque, dark shawls were attached there, with duct tape also on both sides.

These towels also hung on the windows in the cab, so it was ensured that no sunlight could penetrate into the diesel. On the left side of the vehicle, there was a sliding door, which was always locked.

From the inside, the crevices were stuffed and sealed with armor tape. At the rear of the Mercedes was a double door that was almost as wide as the vehicle, there were no windows in the cargo area, and the doors were all metal. The twin tires would pull the heavy diesel easily through every filth in the forest.

The vehicle had been there since the early morning and somebody had taken the trouble to cover it with branches lying around. They lay on the olive camouflage net under which the vehicle was hidden.

You had to go very close to discover it, but there were no strollers in this part of the forest. Throughout the day nothing had moved in the vehicle, the two men, who owned the Mercedes, were in a death-like sleep during the day. But as soon as the sun was gone, it started to rumble inside.

The dark-haired man, who always awoke earlier than his friend, looked for a clean pair of jeans and socks. He had no trouble getting along in the dark. He and his friend were different than others, they could see as well in the dark as others only in the daytime.

His expression betrayed that he was angry. Once again it was one of those crazy nights when he could not remember anything. Since the incident, which was more than thirty years ago, it happened to him more often. Sometimes it was so bad that he even forgot that he was a vampire. Such nights often ended rather ugly, not for him, but for the young ladies who were in his company.

His sleeping friend was then forgotten the moment the dark-haired vampire left the vehicle. He often made his way to the next city and searched in pubs specifically for women who would do almost anything for a drink.

The outward appearance of these ladies did not interest the vampire in the least, he didn't want to marry one of them, but only to get down to business quickly. Well, and when they took him home, his true nature broke out and there was a bloodbath.

Normally the two vampires tried to be as unobtrusive as possible. For this, they went into the clubs of people with a blood fetish. These people called themselves "Vampyre" and drank other people's blood. Since this was generally not tolerated, they founded clubs that could be found in almost every major city, the so-called "vampire clubs".

The club members were actually completely harmless people who otherwise lived a normal life. They had jobs and families. They lived their fetish only in the club, there was no one forced or persuaded into anything, but please, idiots were everywhere. But the majority of these people were just fascinated by vampires.

For the two friends, these clubs were heaven, they found food there without getting exposed. They just had to be careful that no one was eating their blood because they did not want to be responsible for masses of half-vampires.

That night, the dark-haired vampire was in no mood to go to one of those clubs, he wanted to tear something to pieces.

It really was a need that his friend finally woke up, because he always managed to get him to think differently with his cheerful nature. It was just stupid that this man was a late riser who sometimes did not wake up before midnight; but thank God for that night, he didn't sleep that long.

Dwayne, the dark-haired vampire was sitting on a stump, lost in thought, as Paul, his friend, opened the door of the Mercedes.

"Hey, man," he said cheerfully. "Do you know where the key is?" Dwayne looked at him thoughtfully. "Which key," he asked.

The thin, tall vampire, with long blond hair, sighed. "One of those crazy nights," he mumbled, looking helplessly at the ground. "The key to the beauty in which we overslept the day," he finally answered.

Dwayne nodded. "Who drove yesterday," he finally asked. Paul looked at him with a grin. "Always the one who asks," he replied. Dwayne grimaced. "I do not remember what jeans I was wearing yesterday," he said. "But the thing must be in one of the pockets!"

Then Paul disappeared back into the car and a few minutes later he threw his friend three pairs of dirty jeans. "Have fun looking," he said with a laugh, then he was inside the Mercedes again and Dwayne heard him rummage in the things lying around on the floor of the truck bed.

A few minutes later, Paul dropped to the forest floor opposite Dwayne and held a bottle to his friend's nose. Dwayne raised his eyebrows.

"Do not look at me like that," said Paul. "Just have a drink!"

Dwayne sighed. "I hate that," he mumbled. "Come on," Paul answered. "My blood is good!"

His friend grimaced, but then took a long sip, then another. When the bottle was almost empty, he put it on the floor next to him.

"True," Dwayne muttered as he searched the jeans for the key. Paul grinned when his friend threw him the key, after he finally pulled it out of one of his pockets, and caught him with one hand.

"Do you feel better now," he asked, reaching for the bottle with his free hand. Dwayne nodded, smiling. Paul drained the bottle and threw it back on the bed.

He began to pull the branches from the vehicle, next he removed the camouflage net and threw it carelessly on the mattress, which served the two as a sleeping place if they did not manage to find another safe place. When Paul was done, he unlocked the driver's door and sat down at the wheel. He put the key in the ignition and unlocked the bonnet, then jumped out again.

"Where ..." he began his sentence, but immediately fell silent again. "He forgot, anyway," he muttered and shrugged.

He preferred to look for the oilcan himself that his friend had bought the night before. Dwayne watched him with raised eyebrows but said nothing. After a few minutes, he got up and retrieved the canister he had dumped under the back of the vehicle the night before.

He could not have remembered where he had put the jerrycan, but he knew what his friend was up to with the bonnet open. "Are you looking for this," he asked, picking up the oil. The tall blond vampire smiled. "Yes," he said. "Thank you!" After the vehicle was ready, both sat down in the open door and lit a cigarette.

"Okay," Paul finally said. "Where to now?" Dwayne shrugged as Paul looked at him intently.

"What have we lost," Dwayne suddenly asked. Paul looked him in the eye and sighed. "Dwayne, I'll write it down someday," Paul replied.

Dwayne laughed out loud. "Can you even write," he replied amused. The two looked at each other and burst out laughing, then they fell silent and looked at the soil.

Dwayne put a hand on his friend's shoulder after a few minutes. "Listen," he finally said. "I do not know what or who we lost, but no matter what it was, we'll find it again soon, we'll be complete again, we have to go home!"


	11. David and Marko

Chapter 11: David and Marko

In the early hours of the morning, the two men on their motorcycles passed the city sign.

"Welcome to Santa Carla" was on this sign. David, who was driving away at the front, braked and stopped behind the sign.

He lit a cigarette and waited for Marko to stop beside him. "Not much has changed here," he said, pointing his free hand at the back of the shield.

"Murder capital of the world" stood there. Marko studied the sign thoughtfully.

"Well," he finally said. "The five of us were gone, but the werewolves will still be there, this city is a paradise for supernatural beings!"

"Yes, that's true," answered David. "I hope we will not be discovered right away, the wolves did not like seeing us there, they wanted this city for themselves!"

Marko nodded and looked at the floor. "Well, now we have no chance against them," he remarked. "But on the other side, we've changed, we've gotten older, as stupid, as they are, they are not going to recognize us!"

David started laughing. "You can be sure of that," he answered. "What's the deal, coffee?" Marko grinned. "Sure, what else," he asked. "A coffee, breakfast and a newspaper!"

"Okay, let's go," David replied with a grin and threw his cigarette butt on the floor. The boardwalk and the pier had not changed much over the years.

The rides were exactly as the two men remembered them. Some had a new coat of paint, but otherwise, everything was the same.

The old carousel with the horses and the barrel organ music was still there. David loved this carousel because it was the only one here that was about the same age as he himself.

What struck them was that most of the old souvenir shops were gone. Where they once were, there were now game shops, internet shops, and even more food stalls. Where "Max 'Video" used to be, these days was "Lucy's game shop".

David smiled, he had no grudge against this woman, she was not to blame for the demise of his brothers Dwayne and Paul. Only Michael and Star were responsible for that.

He was not even mad at Michael anymore. David knew that Michael just wanted to protect his family, David would have done the same.

But Star, well, she had betrayed him and his boys. She was David's girl and he would have done everything to see her happy, in his own way.

But since she knew he and his brothers were vampires, she had been nothing but trouble, and then she met Michael, and David caught them in bed.

Marko never liked Star, and today David knew it would have been better to listen to Marko.

He stood there for a while, lost in thought, as Marko slapped him on the shoulder, pointing enthusiastically in the direction of one of the new businesses. "DDMP Tattoos" was on the sign above the entrance.

David looked at Marko with raised eyebrows, "don't you ever get enough of it," he finally asked. "Nope," Marko replied with a grin and shrugged.

"Do you still have room for a new tattoo," David asked, laughing. Marko laughed too. "Lots," he replied. While the two men were waiting for their breakfast in a pub near the pier, they studied the job offers in the paper.

"Here," said Marko, pointing to an ad. "That could be something for us." David read the ad and nodded. "Paint walls, two rooms," he remarked, "we should have done that in one day!"

Marko looked at him with a smile. "What do you think if we rent a caravan at the campsite on the beach?" David gazed thoughtfully out of the window for a moment, then looked at Marko. "Well, we still have enough money to pay the rent for a year in advance," he said. "I like the idea a lot, much better than an apartment!"

Marko nodded, smiling. "I would suggest that I call this woman after the meal, to get this the job, and then we drive over to the campsite," David explained. After the two had left the restaurant, David lit a cigarette and fished in the inner pocket of his leather jacket for his smartphone.

He dialed the number Marko had previously written in the book, they always wrote down the addresses of their clients. Marko stood next to it and nibbled at his thumbnail. It was a habit of him that he just could not get rid of.

"Hello," a female voice answered the phone. "Hello," replied David grinning. "This is Dave, my friend and I are interested in the job you advertised."

"Ah, okay," the woman answered. She sounded somewhat relieved as if she had expected someone else on the phone.

"Did you already do such work," she asked. David then took the phone from his ear, raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "Such a stupid question," he mumbled.

Marko looked at him questioningly, but David just waved. "Listen, lady," David finally answered. "My friend and I have been doing such jobs for more than thirty years, that's our way to earn our money!"

"Okay, okay," the woman replied. "I just wanted to be sure!" Then she told David her name and address, which Marko wrote into the book.

"Sometimes you just wonder," David said to his friend. "So bad," Marko asked amused. He knew exactly how impatient David could sometimes be.

"She did not want to tell me the address," David explained. Marko laughed loudly. "This woman seems to be a particularly intelligent specimen," he replied. David nodded, grinning, "We can start work tomorrow morning at eight," he said.

Then the two men drove to the campsite. As the two had already suspected, it was not a problem to rent a caravan for a longer period. The friends looked at different models and eventually decided on one that was not that big. They were not used to much luxury, even as vampires they had already renounced it and Max offers to live with him in his house.

Their independence was important to them even back then, so many years they preferred to live in the sunken hotel.

The owner of the caravan had finally agreed to rent the caravan for half a year. If there were no problems, the lease would be extended. David and Marko were used to such reservations because of their outward appearance, they did not look like the nice neighbors, and they did not want that at all.

In the caravan, there were two bedrooms, a bathroom with a shower, and in the front area was the common room with a small kitchenette. In the lounge, there was plenty of seating, with a dining table and a TV. The decor was in different blues, old-fashioned, but clean.

On each side of the caravan, there was a wooden hut. In one were a second refrigerator and three bicycles. On the wall, the garden hose was rolled up, and next to it was a small workbench and tools.

In the other hut stood the garden furniture, a gas grill and the accessories of a pavilion. The caravan stood on a lawn surrounded by high hedges. On the square designated for the pavilion lay light brown sidewalk tiles. An opaque windscreen was embedded in it. On the right side was a parking lot for the motorcycles.

After the two men had set up the pavilion, Marko grinned and got the bicycles out of the hut. He walked around them several times, inspecting them.

David was sitting in a chair on the lawn, a cigarette in one hand, and a coffee in the other. He watched his friend with raised eyebrows.

"A few repairs and these two are ready to go again," Marko called David. "You want to drive with it," David exclaimed in astonishment. Marko just nodded, grinning.

"We will go with it," he replied. David looked skeptically at the two bikes. "Not me," he replied. Marko just grinned and looked at his friend for a few minutes as he nibbled his thumbnail.

"You've never sat on such a thing, right," he finally asked. David looked down. "Marko," he answered. "When I was a young man before I met Max, I mean, it was not common for everyone to have a bike, in fact, I've never ridden it, and frankly, I'm not willing to change that!"

Marko looked at the bikes a bit disappointed. "Well, we'll see," he muttered. David shook his head blankly. He knew exactly how stubborn Marko could be.

An hour later, two of the bikes were ready to be used, the third served Marko as a spare parts warehouse. He talked to David for a while and tried to persuade him to learn to ride the bike.

David finally gave in and grabbed annoyed one of the bikes. It took him a while and he fell down twice, but finally, he was riding his bike amused all over the campsite. He noticed an old Mercedes Van, which was parked there.

Later, the two sat down in the pavilion with a can of beer and Marko talked about cycling trips his parents did with him when he was a kid.

"You can discover great things because you can use bike paths that are not passable with our motorcycles," he concluded.

David nodded. "I think we deserve another beer today," he said with a smile and went inside to get the drinks.

"Thank you," said Marko. "After that, I go to sleep," he added.

"I'll end reading my book," David explained. "After that, I'm gone too, that was a long, eventful day and I'm done!"

On time the next morning, the two men arrived at the woman's apartment. Marko rang the bell. "Who is there," the woman asked softly.

"Here's Dave," David answered with a grin. "We called yesterday," Marko and David heard the security chain being pushed in from inside, then the door opened a crack.

The two men looked at each other questioningly and shook their heads. When the woman finally opened the door to let the men in, David froze and looked at the woman deadly serious. Out of all the women in this town, it had to be her. Sure she had changed a lot. Gone was the long curly hair, that he had always loved so much. Her hair was short and grey now, but this big brown eyes, they would never change.

Marko raised his eyebrows and rolled his eyes. "That can not be true," he said, totally annoyed.

Ginger needed a moment to recognize them. Finally, David regained his composure. "Ginger, huh," he asked condescendingly. Then he turned to go back to the elevator, Marko following his example.

Ginger's eyes filled with tears as she realized who the men were. "David, Marko," she called after them. "Please don't go!" The men stopped and David slowly turned around with a sigh. "Why," he asked, looking contemptuous.

Marko grimaced. "Some things never change," he muttered. "Why, Star," repeated David. "Or should I call you Ginger?" He stood with clenched fists in front of her and looked at her angrily.

"David," she replied, tears streaming down her face. "How is that possible?" She reached out to touch his cheek, but he slammed her hand away. Sobbing, she looked down. "David, please," she said again.

"Hey, let's go," Marko intervened. David nodded and turned and walked a few steps. "David please," called Star behind him. "Our child, Hope, she is in danger!"

David stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face her. "What was that," he asked. Marko was really angry now. "Just leave us alone, Bitch," he mocked the woman. "Please," she whispered. "I'm sorry, I did not want that to happen!" Then David exploded.

"What exactly are you sorry for," he shouted at her. "That you betrayed us for a quick fuck, or that Paul and Dwayne are dead, what are you sorry for, Star?"

He looked at her hatefully, grabbed her wrist roughly and pulled her towards him. "Our child," he spat. "Who knows who else you've fucked with? "Leave us alone," he shouted. "Otherwise you will be really sorry!"

Then he turned and stormed down the stairs, followed by Marko. He sat on his bike and raced off without another word.

"Shit," Marko said stunned. He had not experienced his friend like that forever. He knew it would be useless to follow David, so he drove to the nearest pub and ordered a beer. It was the first time in many years that both men came home drunk in the evening.


	12. Home sweet home

Chapter 12: Home sweet home

At first glance, one could get the impression that a normal young man in his mid-twenties would cross someone's path. He was about five feet five and had dark blond, unkempt hair.

His clothes were old and worn. His colorful, short-sleeved shirt, as well as his light trousers, were dirty and had many holes. He looked like one of the many homeless people, but that impression was wrong. This young man was a dangerous animal, for he had never learned the simple rules of his existence.

His creator had turned him into a vampire and left him alone, thinking he would not survive anyway. He had been this savage creature for over twenty years, and nobody knew of its existence.

His creator had forgotten about him long ago. The original family of the man considered him dead, he even had a memorial stone in the local cemetery, but his grave was empty and just a symbol of how much his mother and brother missed him.

This creature had never left Santa Carla, but since his transformation, it lived in the shadow of the night, lonely, abandoned and full of rage. Only to feed, he would go near people. But now he sensed that his creator had returned home and made his way to the Boardwalk to find him.

When the two vampires arrived in the city, they had about two hours left before the sun would rise and they would have to move to a safe place. The two were quite hungry because they had not hunted for two nights.

"We should go to the Boardwalk first," suggested Paul, who steered the vehicle. Dwayne looked up from his book, closed it, and slid it under his seat. He looked out the side window at the sea. "I had completely forgotten how beautiful the sea looks like here," he said smiling and then looked from the window to his companion.

He smiled now too. "Well, at home it's the most beautiful," he replied. The dark-haired vampire nodded. "Boardwalk sounds good. We always found something to eat there," he remarked amusedly.

Paul laughed at his friend's ambiguous statement. "Yes, that's right," he said. "Best of all, we've done those annoying Surf Nazis, and I'll never forget Chelly's stupid face when I pulled her out of the car!"

Dwayne nodded, grinning. "These guys were really corrosive, they were always trying to get hold of Star and Laddie!" "Yeah, and when Marko was with Chelly and David tried to get her into the family, Greg was totally freaked out," Paul replied.

Dwayne looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. "Well," he finally said. "Marko really liked the girl very much and I could not understand why she wanted to be with Greg!"

Paul nodded. "We showed her our home, David told her what we are and how we live, but she had nothing better to do than run to Greg and betray us, the guy treated her like trash!"

"These idiots didn't know how to treat women at all," the dark-haired vampire explained. "Anyway," Paul answered. "We've made sure that Greg couldn't tell anyone about our secret."

Dwayne nodded in agreement and looked back to the sea. He wondered what had happened to Marko and David. He somehow knew they were still alive, though the mental connection that had bound the four vampires at that time was not the same as it used to be.

Paul smiled at his friend. He was glad that Dwayne had a good night in which his brain worked perfectly. The "crazy" nights were very stressful for the tall blond vampire, he could not keep his friend out of sight, or he did something stupid again.

"We have to come up with something else where we can turn that beauty off later," Paul said, pointing to the steering wheel. "At the Boardwalk, we can not leave our baby, it's too noticeable!"

Dwayne knew his friend was talking about the Mercedes, he always called it beauty or baby. "The old campsite is still here," suggested Dwayne. "We passed it before.

The two vampires were now on the boardwalk and Paul was just about to park the Mercedes. When he was done, he turned off the engine and pulled the key out of the ignition.

He looked at Dwayne and nodded. "Good idea," he finally said, then got out and opened the door to the cargo area. Dwayne followed and watched as his friend climbed onto the bed. "Come on," Paul shouted to him. Dwayne shrugged and disappeared inside the vehicle as well.

Paul handed him a still-packed hoodie and sunglasses. Dwayne looked at both for a moment and then looked at Paul questioningly. He was grinning. "It stinks of wet dog here, the whole city smells like it," he explained. "That means the werewolves are still living here, and who knows who else is running around here. Better if we play it safe until we've checked the situation!"

Dwayne thought for a moment, then tore open the packaging and pulled on the shirt. He searched for a hair tie in his jeans, which lay in the back of the truck, and pulled his hair into a ponytail. "Maybe we should clean up here," he remarked.

Paul, who was about to pull his shirt over his head, paused for a moment. "Why," he finally asked, after looking around in the van. Dwayne sighed and shrugged. Both vampires were not exactly neat but now so much stuff was spread out on the ground that you could hardly find anything.

Paul grinned. "We can check tomorrow if the laundromat is still there and wash our clothes." On the way back, we'll take trash bags and sort all the pizza boxes and beer bottles and dispose of the stuff, "he suggested.

"That would be a start," Dwayne replied with a grin. He looked skeptically at the sunglasses from all sides. "Do you really think that's necessary," he asked, frowning.

"Just put it on," Paul replied, then tied his long hair to a braid, put on his sunglasses, and, like his friend, pulled the hood of the shirt over his head. The two vampires looked at each other in amusement and then burst out laughing.

"We look like two junkies," Dwayne commented dryly after he had calmed down. Paul nodded. "Well, at least we will not stand out here," he said, jumping off the back of the truck. "Let's go now, I'm starving!"

Dwayne nodded and hovered out of the van on the floor. "Hey, stop that shit, people are still around," Paul mocked and shook his head. "Well, hopefully," Dwayne answered dryly. Then the two started.

They walked across the boardwalk to the stairs to the beach. They both felt they were finally back home. Here they knew everything. It made the two vampires happy and they smiled the whole time, although they also thought of David and Marko.

David was their leader, he always knew how to proceed, no matter how bad a situation was. And Marko was Paul's best friend. Marko had brought him into the family, and Paul was grateful for that.

As a human, he never had a real family. His father was gone before Paul was born, and his mother had raised him alone for the first few years. Every now and then she had a relationship, but these men usually treated Paul very badly, even beating him.

Due to this situation, Paul was on the wrong track at the age of sixteen. He had skipped school, drank and stoned more often. Who knows where he would have landed if Marko had not found him a few years later?

On the way, the vampires noticed a young woman standing with a group of five homeless youths. Obviously, she was a social worker she was distributing water bottles to the kids.

That she did not belong to them, you could see at first glance, because she wore clean clothes and had otherwise a well-groomed appearance. The young woman had dark, long hair, wore tight jeans, white canvas shoes, and a black leather jacket.

The two vampires stopped for a moment and looked at the scene. They looked at each other and shook their heads, these were not the victims of the night. The young woman did an important job, and the kids reminded the two vampires of their own lives, for Dwayne had a similar background to his blond friend, albeit many years earlier.

David had saved Dwayne at the time, as Marko saved Paul. The young woman turned to the vampires and also looked at them for a moment, then turned back to the kids and continued her work.

Paul looked at his friend thoughtfully. "Seems to be a social worker," he said as they walked down the stairs. Dwayne nodded. "Her face reminds me of someone," he answered.

Paul stopped. "I also noticed and her jacket, I've seen it before," he explained. Dwayne raised his eyebrows. "There are many such jackets," he said. "We wear almost the same ourselves."

Paul looked at the place where they had seen the young woman. "Not this jacket," he said. "It's older like ours, it's not one of the modern things that nearly everyone is running around with these days," he added stubbornly.

Dwayne looked annoyed. "Does not matter anyway," he finally answered. "Come on now!" Then he turned and stalked away through the sand.

It was not long before they discovered a campfire at a remote spot on the beach. They looked at each other and nodded, then they walked over to the people. "Maybe you have something to drink for us," Paul asked, smiling. By the fire were two men and a woman, all about thirty years old.

One of the men was about to tune the guitar, the other two were engaged in conversation. All three looked at Dwayne and Paul with a smile. "You are probably left from the night," asked the man with the guitar. "Sure, sit down." With these words, he handed each vampire a can of beer.

"That's not very cold," said the other man. "It's good for that," he added with a laugh. The woman waved to them. "I am Eve," she said. "That's Pete and Eric."

The two vampires nodded, smiling, opening their cans and taking a sip. "Where are you from, Eve, Pete and Eric," Paul asked, while Dwayne just looked at the three. "Canada," answered Pete, who had put his guitar aside. "And where are you from?" Paul grinned. "We come straight from hell," he finally answered.

Then the vampires turned off their beer cans and hit. Everyone grabbed one of the men. The woman they would share afterward. She screamed and tried to run, but Dwayne grabbed her by the arm and let the now dead Eric fall to the sand. Then he drained for Eve.

The vampires threw the remains of the three on the fire, then searched the people's belongings. The vampires took away the money, the guitar and some joints. The remaining items were also burned. Finally, they extinguished the fire and flew away.

The two of them planned to spend the day in their old hiding place, the sunken hotel, but first, they wanted to bring the Mercedes to the campsite. There was not much time left, then the sun would rise.

From the campsite, they flew to the cave and landed directly in front of the entrance. The two saw that the staircase that had once led down there lay broken on the ground.

Dwayne looked around and wondered. "Better for us," he said. "No mortal can ever enter this place again!"

Paul nodded, smiling, and thought back to the afternoon when those stupid boys tried to kill Marko. They probably did not know so well about human anatomy because they missed Marko's heart. Dwayne knew exactly what Paul was thinking. He sighed and followed his friend into the cave.

The two vampires looked around. A thick layer of dust was everywhere, but that was not surprising after so many years. Otherwise, not much had changed. "It's a weird feeling without them," Dwayne said thoughtfully. Paul nodded and pointed to the chest where David kept his things. "His things are gone," he said.

Dwayne looked at him thoughtfully, then disappeared into the elevator shaft. Through this one came into a smaller cave in which the vampires had always slept. There was a small alcove on the right side of this shaft where Marko had always stored his things. It was empty, too.

"I knew it," Dwayne muttered. "Marko's things are gone too," he called to Paul. Then he spotted something on one of the walls.

"Come here," he called. "You need to see this!" Paul came over to him and grinned, handed him one of the joints they had taken from their victims. Dwayne showed him the wall. 'RIP Paul and Dwayne, D. and M.' someone had sprayed with red paint.

"Our brothers are alive," Paul said happily. "Somewhere!"

The vampires returned to the main room and dropped onto one of the sofas. A cloud of dust rose. Dwayne smiled at Paul. "David and Marko are clever," he finally said. "They will come home too, we just have to wait!"

For the first time since the fight in James Marten's house, vampires, hanging upside down, slept in the sunken hotel. Two full and very happy vampires.


	13. Dangerous curiosity

Chapter 13: Dangerous curiosity

Hope just could not forget what she had seen in the mirror in her grandmother's house. It was her own face, but it was distorted, disfigured, a scary visage. Her pupils were yellow, blood-rimmed and she had catches like a predator. Her cheekbones were higher than usual and poked out.

She wanted to kill her grandmother during this altercation. Hope was so angry at Ines because of this silly lie about the young woman's real mother. But when her eyes fell in the mirror, and she saw that dreadful visage, she was so shocked that she flew out of the house and did not return.

The young woman kept away from other people out of fear of doing something stupid and unpardonable. She constantly felt the need to look in each mirror to make sure that her face looked normal.

It took several weeks before she dared to trust herself again, then she finally got in touch with Father Michael. She could not hide forever, it was her job to help people in emergencies, and she needed the money.

She had not failed to notice that Father Michael reacted strangely when she entered his office. She almost felt that he knew she was a little different than other people.

Well, she was different indeed. She has not been able to leave home during the day for many years. Her sun allergy was terrible, one day she just tried it out and put her hand out through the closed curtain. This was not a very smart idea, because it burned instantly and Hope took almost two weeks before the sunburn was completely healed.

Other people would judge her, because her breakfast, which she usually ate in the early evening, was mostly animal blood. Usually, it was possible to get blood from a butcher, of course, for a lot of money.

She couldn't refuse to drink blood, because of the terrible stomach cramps and certainly, she would sooner or later attack people. The young woman could not explain why she had to drink blood and found it self-defiant, but she had no choice.

It was also bad for the young woman that other people's heartbeats were loud to her, like a timpani concert, and luckily, over time, she had learned to fade out the sound.

It could happen that she could not buy blood, so Hope had no choice but to hunt an animal in the forest, it did not matter what kind. She sucked the blood out of her prey and was horribly ashamed of it because she actually loved animals.

But as if the sun allergy and the need to drink blood were not enough, her face changed every time she became very angry in that predator-like visage.

It also happened that she jumped out of a dream and floated directly under her ceiling. Since she had no control over it, she simply fell to the floor and got bruises. Hope did everything to ensure that no one would ever know about these things, so she had no private contacts.

During their first meeting, Father Michael informed Hope about the situation in the city. Father Michael explained that Santa Carla was a paradise for the runaways, as the local police were not really interested in looking for them.

The priest knew that a lot of the cops were werewolves. He had dealt with them several times when angry parents came to town looking for their missing children.

But the wolves had threatened Michael's family, so he preferred to remain silent. The young people who took refuge in the city were easy prey for these monsters because nobody here knew them.

Of course, he could not tell the young social worker. People didn't want to believe that vampires and werewolves actually existed. In any case, the priest wondered how long Hope would do this job.

She was not the first social worker to come to the city, and would certainly not be the last one. Her predecessors had never lasted more than a year, and those who were more persistent eventually disappeared. The priest was sure the werewolves were behind it, but of course, he had no evidence for that.

Vampires did not exist in the city since Max's pack was destroyed. The young woman seemed strange to Michael, something was wrong with her. And her face reminded the priest of someone, but to whom, he could not tell.

Well, maybe they had met at one of the many training sessions that were essential for working with homeless people. He would not have much to do with her anyway, she stored her things here, which she would put into her suitcase every evening and then gave it to the homeless children.

Like every night, Hope parked her small, white Ford in front of the institution and filled her trolley in the kitchen. That night, she wanted to distribute sparkling water and long-lasting foods to the young people. The flyers pointing out Father Michaels place, she put in her brown leather bag.

Before she would go home in the early morning, she would meet with a group of five teenagers. She had met the kids for the first time a few days earlier and promised them the food.

She hoped that the group with whom she had arranged a meeting near the stairs to the beach appeared. Like most homeless teenagers, they were very distrustful of her and it was important for the work of the social worker to gain the trust of the kids.

After all, Hope had learned their names and something about the background that had led the kids to run away from home. All five came from broken families and there was violence against them in the game.

The five were not as brave as many of the other homeless, they wanted to go through life without thefts and drugs. All five dreamed of graduating from school someday and to have a reasonable education.

All five actually had a job, but only for two to five hours a week. It was clear that it could not be used to finance a flat, and it was not really enough to eat. Hope hoped to get the five off the road with the help of Father Michael. The young people slept in an abandoned house, electricity and running hot water were not there of course.

Hope was glad when she actually discovered the group at the agreed meeting place. "Hi, I'm glad you are here," she greeted the kids. "We are grateful for any help we receive," answered one of the girls. The others nodded in agreement.

"It's getting harder," one of the boys explained. "Many others join gangs and threaten us." Hope looked at the young people sadly, it was really a shame that she could not do more.

"We would like to talk to the priest," said one of the other boys. "Do you have the flyers from his institution with you?" The kids looked at the social worker with a smile.

"Here they are," Hope answered smiling as she handed each one a flyer. "You better go right away when it opens!" The five kids nodded and Hope opened her suitcase.

"I have water, sausage, and canned soup," she explained. "Do you have the opportunity to heat something?" The five nodded. "We have a small gas cooker, that will work," replied one of the girls.

Hope nodded. "You're careful with that, I hope," she finally said, raising her eyebrows. The five nodded. "Promise," they said.

The young woman suddenly had the feeling of being watched and turned to the stairs. There were two dark-clad figures wearing sunglasses. The statue of the two revealed that they were men.

They were about six feet tall and well built. The wind blew a scent of lavender, leather, and engine oil to Hope. Whoever these men were, this scent was very inviting to the young woman.

For some reason, these men's eyes made Hope shudder. She looked at them for a moment, then turned back to the teenagers. After distributing the contents of her trolley to the five, she reminded the priest once more. She went back and left her suitcase in the garage, then got into her car and drove home.

For three nights she was off from her job, and that was a good thing. None of the blood she had bought was left and she couldn't get any at the time. That meant she had to hunt, and she dreaded it. She hated that bloodthirst so much, but it did not help.

The next evening, she woke up sweaty from a nightmare. She had seen that big, blond creature again, but she was not afraid of it. Something terrible had happened to this creature, and she heard that terrible, tortured cry that scared her.

Her heart was pounding so hard she could barely breathe, and she had terrible stomach cramps of hunger. Disconcerted, she slipped into her bathroom and looked in the mirror when she felt something pointedly penetrate her lower lip and she tasted blood.

When she saw her face, or better, the scary visage, she broke down crying. Every time that happened, she hated her life and would happily end it. However, she lacked the courage to do so, because she had tried once before, and one day, after almost killing her grandmother, she had cut her wrists open. However, the wound healed immediately and she just needed more blood. She had felt so alone and unloved that day that she had seen no other way out.

When she had calmed down, she put on her dark parka, pulled on her hood and put on her sunglasses, then left the house. The young woman lived near a forest, it only took a few minutes to get there.

One of the forest roads at the opposite end of the forest led up to the cliffs, where, hidden in a cave, was the sunken hotel. Of course, Hope did not know that, because she did not know the city well enough.

She had heard the rumors about the place, but where it was she did not know and she did not care. She had enough trouble keeping in check the monster that lived inside her.

Terrible guilt tormented the young woman when she thought of the poor animal that she would kill, but she had no choice. To kill a human being would be even worse.

This time she was lucky. She had seen a pack of wolves about to chase a stag. One of the wolves had been injured and left to die. The young woman released him from his grief, it would otherwise probably have slowly gone to the bottom. The animal made no defense and Hope stroked his coat while she drank from him.

Hope sat for a while beside the dead animal, as the gout of lavender, leather, and motor oil rose in her nostrils, it was weak, but irresistible to the young woman.

She stood up and instinctively followed the scent, and after a short walk, she stood in the shadow of the forest on top of the cliffs, not far from the staircase that had once led to the sunken hotel.

On the other side sat two long-haired men. One was blond and the other dark-haired. The men wore jeans and boots. The torso of the brunette man was undressed, his shirt and a leather jacket lay behind him. His friend was about to pull his dark shirt over his head when he was done, he threw it carelessly behind him and it landed next to his jacket.

The faces of the men Hope could not recognize in the darkness. The two were accompanied by a woman, she had long blond hair and was rather plump. She seemed a bit unsure and sat down between the men as the blonde pointed to the place between his friend and himself.

Then the blonde man got up, took his jacket and searched the pockets. After finding what he was looking for, he went to a pile of wood piled up in front of the three and lit it. The brunette man threw some more wood into the flames and it made a cozy campfire.

The blond man took the six-pack that stood next to him and opened it, then he handed the woman and his friend a beer. The dark-haired man took his jacket and took something out of one of the pockets, it had to be a joint because after he had lit this, it smelled of weed.

Hope retired a little further into the shadows, but she could not manage to leave. As the blond man handed the joint to the woman, Hope briefly took her eyes off the scene and cautiously backed away.

She was about to turn around and leave when the woman sitting with the men began screaming hysterically. When Hope saw the blond man's face, that she could see well in the firelight, she realized why the woman was screaming. His face was distorted, his cheekbones poked out, his pupils were yellow and he had fangs.

The young woman held her hands over her mouth so as not to scream herself. She stood rooted to the spot, watching helplessly as both men attacked the woman. The smell of the woman's blood penetrated her nose, and she felt her own catches dig into her lower lip.

Hope was shocked by the sight of it, but it excited her and she felt her own hunger again. Her lip was bleeding now, and as she licked the blood, the dark-haired man lifted his head and sniffed the air.

He glanced directly in Hope's direction and she saw the woman's blood dripping from his chin. He jumped up and Hope took a few steps back without taking her eyes off him. His friend also raised his head and sniffed. Hope saw that he was holding back the brunette man, then she ran away without looking back.

She literally flew through the forest, and even though she was unaware, she was actually flying. It only took a few minutes to reach the house where her apartment was located.

With trembling hands, she unlocked the door and locked it from the inside. Hope sat down on the couch without turning on the light. She was ashamed, because a few minutes ago she had seen two men kill a woman, but instead of helping her, she had just run away.

Hope had always thought she was a freak, a whim of nature, albeit a very bad one. But now she knew there were others who were just like her. The scene on the cliffs had aroused her rather than frightened her. She was wet between her legs and was ashamed of it.

Hope was completely unaware of this feeling, for out of mistrust of herself she had never let anyone close enough to intimacy. Now Hope's curiosity awoke, she wanted to find out who the men were, especially what they were.

Only then could she find out what she was. The next evening, as soon as it got dark, she made her way to the cliffs. She was very aware that she was in great danger, but she pushed that thought aside.

When she reached the cliffs, she hesitated a while and stopped in the shade of the trees. Then, resolutely, she went to the spot where the two men had sat with the woman by the fire. Hope could not detect anything conspicuous.

She stepped to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the sea. Total darkness was down there and she looked over at the lights of the boardwalk, it was a beautiful view.

She looked down again. There was a light now, that had not been there before. Suddenly she was scared and she just wanted to go home. Before she could turn around, she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye that came up from the light and she felt a draft of air behind her. Then someone pulled her hood off her head.

She wanted to scream, but no sound came from her open mouth. Hope had never felt such a panic. Slowly she turned around, but there was nothing there. Then she heard a soft laugh and turned back to the sea. The blond man stood there, no, he did not stand, he floated over the abyss and grinned at her.

She turned and ran, but by the time she reached the woods, the brunette man stepped out of the shadows, grinning. "Do you want to leave, kid," he asked, and Hope saw his face change.

She turned around and looked for a way out, when she looked back into the forest, he was gone. Completely insecure and in panic, she took a few steps toward the trees. She heard something behind her and looked over her shoulder in the direction of the sound, but there was nothing there.

When she looked at the trees again, the dark-haired man suddenly stood behind her. She wanted to run in the other direction. "Buh," said the blond man, who had appeared out of nowhere. The young woman was trapped between the men. Dejected she sank to her knees, closed her eyes and was sure that she would get killed now.


	14. The little one

David and Marko had settled in well and enjoyed the tranquility that life on the campsite offered them. In Santa Carla, they felt at home and free. They were not the only ones who had their main residence in one of the caravans, but the other people were so scattered there that sometimes the men did not meet any neighbors for days.

In the meantime, they had even learned how to cook their own meals, and enjoyed chopping vegetables or peeling potatoes in their awning. Marko had turned out to be a gifted chef, and a self-cooked meal tasted better to the former vampires than food in the restaurants, and it was much cheaper.

Marko had been amused by David's reaction the first time he asked him to cut vegetables. Marko had given his friend a peeler and a knife and the carrots to cut. David took one of the carrots and the peeler in his hand and had no clue what he should do with it. He had never seen a peeler before. He regarded the carrot skeptically from all sides.

He held the peeler out to Marko and asked, "What's that?" Marko could not stop laughing.

"Well, my friend, I was born in more modern days. It was important to my mother that her sons were able to cook, too, and she always involved my brother and me when it came to it. "

David just nodded and grinned a little stupidly. "When I was a child, women had no say," he replied. "But later, women have begun to stand up for themselves."

Marko nodded in agreement. "Yes, and the mini appeared," he replied with a grin.

David smiled again. "Well, some girls look good in those things, but I'd hate it if every guy gawked at my woman, and there's nothing left to the imagination," he remarked.

"A matter of taste, I like it! As far as cooking is concerned, I forgot many things when I was a vampire, but I never forget such basic things as this one," he replied, taking the peeler in hand to show his friend how he should use it.

"So you really want to get another tattoo," David asked after a while. "Yes," replied Marko. "I would like to go to the Tattoo studio to make an appointment, you can come along, we could go for a beer afterward."

David looked at his friend for a while. "Okay, that sounds good to me," he replied. "I just don't wanna get as drunk as the last time!"

Marko remembered the evening they had accepted an assignment, and Star was the client. The two friends had not known that since she called herself Ginger. He looked at David thoughtfully. "Do you think she told you the truth about the kid," he asked.

David shrugged. At that time, I didn't care if we could father children," he said. Marko smiled. "Well, if we had a girl, which did not happen that often, their chances of survival were usually not very high," he replied.

David looked at his friend thoughtfully. "Do you regret it sometimes," he asked. "The girls, I mean." Marko put another peeled potato into the pot and stood up.

"I've nightmares about them sometimes," he explained. "They were still young and I feel guilty, but on the other hand we had no choice, we had to feed. These girls were not very nice, they were just as haughty as we were back then and have made life hell for other people. I've always picked girls who thought to be worthier then everybody else, and I've done that consciously, I think we've done a favor to the world, but who knows. I never liked people like them and that is still the same!"

David knew what his friend was talking about. He had not taken out many girls, and he was never interested in a fuck and feed, as the other boys called it back then. He didn't like to have sex with a corpse, and that would have always happened to him because it had been hard to control the bloodlust. And he was with Star, she was his, and he didn't want another woman.

David also went to the stove and lifted the lid off the pot Marko had put there. "That looks really good," he said approvingly. "Yes, we are two great men," Marko replied, laughing. In about an hour we can eat. I'm taking a shower by now."

David nodded and looked after Marko as he lit a cigarette. "Maybe I should talk to her," he finally said before Marko disappeared in the bathroom.

"Star is the last person I want to talk to again," Marko answered, looking skeptically at his buddy.

David nodded. "I know, but I may have a child over thirty years old. If you would be in my shoes you would also be curious, right," he asked.

Marko grimaced. "Yes, I would," he finally admitted. "Shall I come with you?" David nodded again.

"Okay," said Marko. "Let's visit her before we go to see the tattoo artist, and after that, we'll need the beer for sure." David laughed. "You can say so, thank you, man!"

His friend shook his head with a grin and finally vanished in the bathroom.

David remained hesitant and lit another cigarette when they arrived at Star's house. Marko already stood by the door. Finally, David got off his bike and walked over.

The two looked at each other and Marko realized that his buddy was not sure if he really wanted to talk to Star. "You want to know, don't you," he asked. Then he rang the bell. David nodded. "Yes, let's get it over with!"

After a few seconds, the door opened and the two went upstairs to the front door. There, David knocked. As at the first meeting she did not open the door immediately.

"Who is there," Star asked. David sighed, wondering who she feared so much. "It's me, David, and Marko!" The former vampires heard her push the safety chain, then she opened the door a crack. Both men shook their heads and looked annoyed. "Why so careful, Star," David finally asked.

But she looked uncertainly at the men. When she recognized them, she smiled and finally opened the door. "My name is Ginger," she explained with relief. "Anyway, Star," David answered. She wanted to ask again that he should not address her with her real name, but David just grinned at her in amusement, so she said nothing and let the two men into the apartment.

"Would you like some coffee or can I offer you something else?" She asked as she walked into the living room followed by the former vampires. "We do not want coffee and nothing else from you, I just want answers, and what's that nonsense with your name," David scolded.

Star sat down in a chair while the men looked at the room. It was small and could accommodate a small sofa and two armchairs, such as a cabinet and a display case. The furniture was simple and white, the curtains and the round rug were blackberry colored. That has always been the woman's favorite color.

On the opposite wall hung a small flat screen TV. "I do not understand how it's possible you live, I'm very happy about it," Star finally broke the silence.

Marko grimaced and sighed, then sat on the arm of the other armchair, folded his arms over his chest, waiting for a reaction from David.

He had not listened at all, because his eyes were glued to a framed photo, which stood in the showcase. Star followed his gaze, got up and took the photo out.

She looked at it sadly, then handed it to him. The photo showed a newborn baby lying in its mother's arms. On the frame hung a small, pink pearl bracelet. Four of the beads had a letter each. Compounded, they gave the name of the child - Hope.

Marko walked over to David and looked interested in the photo. The infant was clearly David's child. It had his delicately curved lips and the girl's eyes were exactly the same color as David's. The little head was full of hair that was spread out in every direction, the same color as David's.

David smiled at the photo. "Where is she," he finally asked. Star desperately returned his gaze, then looked helplessly to the ground. "I do not know," she whispered.

The men looked at her dumbfounded. "What do you mean, you do not know," David asked angrily. "Why am I not surprised," murmured Marko.

Stagnantly Star told how incomprehensible Michael behaved towards her and that he had finally left her alone. Star explained that she had found her mother and lived there for a while.

When she told how Edgar and Alan made her life hell and finally tracked her down in New Orleans, tears ran down her face. She confessed that she was afraid of them. Therefore she had left her daughter with her mother and left. She sobbed loudly and did not dare to look the two men in the eyes. David and Marko looked at her in disbelief. "That really sounds like you, pathetic as ever," David said contemptuously.

"When you got pregnant, I was a vampire and you were a half-vampire, and now you tell me you left this child with your mother, did you ever wonder that our daughter might be a bit different? She needed her mother, Star! "

Star looked desperately into his eyes. "Something bad must have happened," she whispered. "Hope left Ine's house and did not call my mother until weeks later, she's here in Santa Carla, so I also came back, I have to find her, I was hoping you could help me, if Edgar and Alan learn about her, then ... "

"I wanted to share my immortal life with you," David interrupted her. "But you not only betrayed me and the boys but your own child as well," he shouted at her. "Is that what you wanted, are you satisfied now, Star?"

The woman shook her head and glared at her child's father. "No," she called. "I left Hope with my mother because the Frogs and the Emersons did not know about them, our kid was safe and she was fine, Ines loves her."

The former vampires looked at the woman thoughtfully. "Okay," David said as he calmed down. "What do you know about her?"

Star looked at him sadly because she was beginning to realize that he was right. She should not have given the child away. From what Ines had told her on the phone, Star knew that Hope had vampire blood in her veins. Her mother had talked about the change in Hope's face. Ines had seen Hope's catches and the yellow pupils.

"My mother lived with Hope in Modesto for many years, where our daughter took care of homeless kids," Star said. "She has a sun allergy and works at night." David knew exactly what was going on in Santa Carla at night and he felt bad at the thought of his child.

"What else," he asked. Star feared David's anger, but she had no choice now. So she told him everything. She talked about Hope's eating and sleeping habits, the incident with the cat at school, and the argument with Ines. The woman wanted to protect her child, but she could not do it alone. She was hardly able to protect herself and barely dared to leave the house. The men listened attentively and sometimes shooked their heads.

They couldn't believe that she was that stupid. "Do you at least have pictures of her," David finally asked. Star started to cry again and shook her head. "My mother promised to send some," she replied.

Marko gave Star note with his smartphone number. "Call, if you have the photos," he said. Star wanted to thank David and approached him. He raised his hands defensively. "Don't you dare to touch me," he stopped her. "Just that you know, I don't give a shit about you, but I care for Hope!"

"Forget about the new tattoo at the moment," Marko said when they approached their bikes. "All I want now is a beer, and I'm sure, you would like one too!" David started his bike and nodded. then he was gone.


	15. Young woman lost

Chapter 15: Young woman lost

Hope was waiting for the men to kill her, but it didn't happen. The both of them looked exited down to the small woman that still knelt on the ground and held her hands in front of her face.

Paul grinned to Dwayne and shrugged his shoulders. Dwayne sighed and bent down to Hope. Gently he took her hands away from her face and held them for a moment, then he stood up again.

Hope had her eyes closed and was scared to death, and refused to open them. She had had the hope, that she finally would be able to find out, what made the difference between her and other people, but now she just didn't know how to act.

She felt very silly because she had witnessed what these two men were capable to do. She had watched them killing the poor woman a night ago. She often had thought about how peaceful it would be to die, to get away from her lonely life. She even had tried once to kill herself, but now, fuck, she didn't want to die - not this night, not at this place and especially not like this!

The vampires in front of her were able to read her mind, it was part of their nature and she was easy to read, but the young woman, of course, didn't know that.

Paul was getting a bit impatient. He took a cigarette out of the box, lit it and looked annoyed to his buddy. When he scanned her mind, he raised his eyebrows. "Do you want to open your eyes anytime soon and look at us," he finally asked.

Hope still didn't dare to move, although her legs already tingled, Dwayne had enough. "Women," he mumbled and shook his head. He reached for the woman and jerked her to her feet. She screamed and looked at him startled.

Paul looked her up down with a grin, then he walked around her. He pushed her hair aside and had to bend over to bite her, she was no taller than 4,6 feet. The vampire didn't want to kill or hurt her, he just wanted to find out if he was right. For that, he needed to taste her blood.

Blood could give much information, for example, if the owner was ill, or pregnant, even about the bloodline of a person you could learn something - if you had already tasted the blood of their ancestors. The woman's origin was what Paul was interested in.

Hope tried to fight him, she pushed him, but of course, against his vampire strength she didn't stand a chance. When he was done he let go of her with a grin. His lips were smeared with her blood and he gave her a peck on her forehead.

"Exactly like I told you," he explained to Dwayne with a smirk. "Okay," the other vampire answered while he ran his finger over Hope's bloodstained forehead and then licked the blood. "Then she comes with us now!"

Paul nodded and tried to grip the woman, but she just tried to escape. Dwayne shook his head and caught her in no time. "Where are you going little one," he asked while he took into the sky with Hope in an iron grip.

Her eyes were wide with shock and fear. "Let go of me, now," she yelled at the vampire. "Okay," was all he answered before he just let her out of his grip. She screamed while she fell down, but suddenly she was caught again by two strong arms. "Dwayne stop these shit," Paul laughed while he saved the woman before she hit the ground.

Dwayne shrugged his shoulders. "She told me to let her go," he explained. Paul looked at Hope amused. "Want me to let go too," he questioned her. She clung to him. "No, please no," she just screamed terrified to no end.

Paul looked at Dwayne with a grin. Dwayne raised his eyebrows and smirked, when he understood what his friend had in mind, and nodded. Paul threw the woman into his buddy's direction. She screamed and cried. Why had she been so stupid to spy after them?

After they had thrown her like a ball another two times, Dwayne finally cradled her into his arms. Her whole body was shaking and she sobbed loudly. "All I want is to go home," she finally whispered.

Dwayne looked at her. He felt sorry for her. Sure, vampires weren't as sentimental as humans, but most of them also weren't completely coldhearted. He and his brothers had learned many years ago what it felt to be killed and to lose family. This experience had made the two more mature.

This little butterfly didn't know shit about her true nature she had never met any vampire, but both men would change that very soon. They owed it to David to take that woman under their wings. Paul and Dwayne had made this decision after they had seen her the night before watching them.

Someone eventually had to take responsibility for this unsuspecting being. Both vampires would sire her, and they would mark her so she would be protected by them. Paul already had left his mark and Dwayne would do so too, but after he had given her some explanation.

"Home," the brunette vampire repeated Hopes words. "You don't even know where your home is," he added sarcastically and flew into the cave followed by Paul.

He landed next to the old fountain and walked over to one of the sofas where he gently dropped Hope. "What you see now is your real home," he said. "It doesn't bother us whether you like it or not, you'll stay here with us! You should better get used to it!"

Hope sat petrified on the sofa and glared at the two vampires. As always, when she was about to explode, her face changed. She could almost feel the ugly face of a monster emerge and her fangs dug into her lip, and she hated it. But before she was able to attack the men they raised their hands defensively.

"You can trust me, little butterfly," the dark-haired vampire told her. "You wouldn't like to mess with us. You are free to walk around in this place wherever you want, as long as you behave. If not - well, we have some nice dark rooms and we would choose one for you - got it?"

Hope looked to the ground deep in thought of what she should do now. When she looked up her face was human again. Dwayne smiled at her. "Much better," he said. "You'll sleep in the bed over there. By the way, I'm Dwayne and Goldilocks over there is Paul."

The young woman looked at the vampires. "Hope," she whispered. "Matching name," Paul answered with a smirk, then he went to a board across the cave and disappeared out of Hope's sight with Dwayne and an empty bottle. A few minutes later both men came back and Paul took a seat beside the woman. He still had the bottle in his hand, but it was filled now.

"When was the last time you fed," he asked. Hope watched him confused. "Come on, I'm not talking about real food," he said. The woman gazed down to her shoes. "Last night," she answered shyly. "Wasn't that hard to answer my question," the tall blond vampire told her. "You must be hungry," he questioned.

Hope nodded. "Okay, then have a drink now," Paul said and gave her the bottle. "You'll like it!" The woman looked at the bottle thoughtfully. "What...," she wasn't able to ask her question because Dwayne suddenly towered in front of her and stared her down. "Fuck girl, just drink," he ordered.

Both vampires knew, keeping this young lady around would be much easier after she would be sired by them. It was their blood inside of the bottle, all she needed to do was to swallow it!

Hope jumped and started to argue, but she was too tired, completely overwhelmed with the situation, and had abdominal cramps again. She had no idea how the vampires managed to see right through her, but she was sure both of them knew how bad she was.

So she uncorked the bottle, and frankly, she did not care what it contained. She just drank, well it built up a pleasant feeling inside of her and the cramps were gone. She just took off her shoes and lay down. She felt that someone was picked her up, carried her to bed and put a blanket over her, then she just fell asleep.

The two vampires looked at the woman for a while. "What do you think," Paul finally asked. "Was it the right decision to bring her here?" Dwayne shrugged. "No idea," he answered. "Sooner or later, people would have noticed her, she doesn't know what she is, she needs our protection!"

Paul nodded. "You got a point there," he said. "We really owe it to David. He had always cared for us, no matter what sort of arseholes we have been. Now we care for his little girl!" Dwayne looked at Paul thoughtfully, then he shrugged his shoulder and looked down. "We have never been very grateful," he remarked. "He always took Max' punishment, when we had broken the rules. All we cared for was to have fun."

Paul looked over at Hope. "You're right, we always thought we were untouchable, we paid a high price for our arrogant behavior, but we can make amends now.

Dwayne looked at his friend with a smile. "Yeah, but I'm afraid she is as stubborn as her mother had been," he explained and pointed to Hope. "Come on, our blood is in her veins now," answered the blond vampire. "That should work. She never got any sort of explanation, she never knew what happened to her, but now she is with us, and that will change everything!"

The dark vampire smirked. "Yeah, and it really seems to make her very happy by the looks of it," he replied sarcastically. Paul laughed. "Well, we gave her hell, but I couldn't help myself. It reminded me at the time when we had been with David and Marko!"

Dwayne gazed him thoughtfully. "I bet, you wouldn't dare to harm one hair on her head if David would be around," he told Paul. "And by the way, I'm sure the both of them are around in town," he announced, while his friend looked at him confused. "I can not explain, but it feels as someone would try to communicate in my mind with me. Oh come on, we mixed our blood quite often, you should be able to feel it too!"

"Marko," the tall blond vampire tried to explain exited. "I see him, it's like a dream, a vision maybe, I don't know. Since we arrived in Santa Carla, I see him more clearly, as if something may have changed. Somebody is with him, I think it is David. But the possibility to talk to him in my mind is gone!"

Dwayne smiled. "I know exactly what you are talking about," he responded. "Why didn't you tell me," he asked. Paul looked at his boots. "I didn't want you to think I'm completely nuts," he replied with a grin.

The brunette vampire laughed. "I do anyway, no matter what you tell me," erklärte er. "Sure," Paul answered laughing. "That says the man who sometimes forgets that he is a vampire!" Dwayne smirked. "Well, nobody's perfect," he said.

The two vampires sat together until sunrise, fooling around and talking about old stories they had experienced with their brothers. When there was no more beer, it was time for them to retire.

"Is it really a good idea to leave her on her own now," Paul asked while he got up from the sofa. Dwayne nodded. "We have no choice, and she can't get out of here." Paul shook his head. "Oh, but she may be able to fly or at least to levitate," he explained. Dwayne grimaced. "Yeah, sure, but she doesn't know," he told his friend. "We just leave it that way for now!"

Paul shrugged his shoulders and looked a last time at the sleeping woman. He then disappeared into the small tunnel which led into the cavern, where they slept. Hope would share the place with them soon if Dwayne's plan would work.


	16. A familiar face

Gabriel sat on the comfortable brown leather sofa in the small staff room of his tattoo studio. He had brewed himself a cup of herbal tea and read in a motorcycle magazine while waiting for the last customer for the evening.

Normally, he would have closed his store an hour ago, but the tattoo he had engraved Chuck a week ago needed a color correction. It was a Merlin with a wand in one hand and a magic ball in the other. Unfortunately, the color of the ball was too pale.

He wouldn't need more than half an hour for the correction, but after that, he had to clean his tools, then he would finally close. When he heard the bell at the front door, he laid the magazine on the table, took his cup and went through the open sliding door into the reception area.

"Hey, Chuck," the dark-haired man greeted his client. "Hi, Gabe," Chuck replied. "Thank you again for taking the time now. I'll be gone for two months from tomorrow, so I really wanted it done today!"

Gabriel smiled. "Are you going on vacation," he asked. That's when Chuck laughed. "Well, that'd be nice. I'm hired for a fashion fair in New York, you know, I'm in trade fair construction. It's hard work, but it makes good money." "Oh, that sounds very exciting," Gabriel replied with an ironic grin. Chuck waved off. "Well, what can I say, I would much prefer a motorcycle fair, but as I said, the compensation is good and in addition to that the company pays all costs for the hotel and the meals," he explained.

The tattoo artist smiled. "However, when you are back, we go for a drink," he said. "As a little compensation for my mistake with your tattoo." Chuck smiled. "Okay, that sounds great!"

When Gabriel finally left his studio, it was already dark. It was a mild, clear night, and after looking up at the stars, the dark-haired man decided to drive to the sunken hotel.

Once there, he parked his Suzuki at the edge of the cliffs and took off his helmet. With a can of beer in his hand, he sat down on the ground and let his legs dangle over the abyss.

He couldn't help grinning when he thought about how Michael Emerson almost fell off the cliff when he was racing against David. Gabriel had seen Michael some time ago, who was now a priest.

Michael hadn't recognized Gabriel, which made him happy. He didn't want to talk to that man. Somehow Michael was responsible for the death of Gabriel's unusual family.

Gabriel hadn't been up there for a long time and had no idea what drama had happened between the two vampires and the young Woman less than an hour ago. The man could not know that two members of his unusual former family had returned to the sunken hotel.

He just sat there and enjoyed the silence of the night. When he had emptied his beer, he threw the can next to his motorcycle and lay down. As he had done many times before with Dwayne, he looked at the stars.

He thought of the time he'd spent with the vampires. No matter how many years had passed by, he missed them, they were the best family he ever had.

Michael, Sam, and the Frog brothers felt that David and his boys had given Gabriel vampire blood, but that wasn't the truth. On the contrary, the vampires had forbidden the then eight-year-old boy to touch the bottle at all.

But on a summer day, the boy woke up and tried to wake Star up as well, but he didn't succeed. So he strolled through the cave, walked into all the dark corridors he'd never been in before.

He found many things, but none of them could keep him busy for long. Finally, he found the small dark cave where the vampires were asleep hanging upside down from an iron bar anchored high above the child in two walls. The boy lay down on the ground among them and looked at the four vampires, they looked so peaceful.

Eventually, it got too boring for him and he decided to look for the book Dwayne always read to him. He knew what shelf it was on.

Well, and there, hidden behind a pile of books, Gabriel finally discovered the beautiful bottle. At first, he hesitated, but then curiosity triumphed and he took it in his hand to look at it.

The boys often drank the liquid that was in the bottle, and even Star had already drunk it, so there couldn't have been anything bad in the bottle; besides, who should ever know, everybody was asleep. He was just too curious, so he pulled the cork out of the bottle and drank a sip. When nothing happened, he drank until the bottle was empty.

But then the effect began. The little boy was so overwhelmed by the vampire blood that was now running his system that he passed out in front of the shelf. The empty bottle fell next to him, and David finally found him a few hours later.

Gabriel had never experienced the platinum blonde vampire so angry before. Oh no, David was not angry at the boy, but at himself, because he had not hidden the jeweled bottle better.

But now Gabriel was afraid, he had never seen David's vampire face before. From that night on, Dwayne took on the task of taking care of the little half-vampire, which meant that Laddie was fed on Dwayne's blood. Dwayne became Laddies Sire.

Gabriel had tears running down his face as he thought of that night. He'd loved Dwayne and looked up to him. When the vampires died, all those years ago, the boy's heart was broken.

If Michael hadn't come to town with his family, Gabriel would have been a vampire himself for many years. Of course, he did not wish to kill any people to feed on their blood, but frankly, he would be willing to do many things if he could get even a single day with his beloved family for it. Finally, the tears dried up and Gabriel fell asleep.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

David drove for two hours followed by Marko aimlessly through the city. He just couldn't believe Star had abandoned her own child, his daughter. He was mad like he hasn't been in a long time.

Unconsciously, he finally turned into the path that led to the sunken hotel. When he got to the top, he looked around. He turned off the engine and took off his helmet. Then he loosened the knot from the cloth he had tied his hair with and shook his head to loosen his hair.

Next, he got off his motorcycle and put the helmet on the seat. He looked around once more and was surprised to see another bike parked next to the abyss. It was only now that David realized that Marko was gone. He was the other way around to get some cans of beer when David turned off to the cliffs.

David walked up to the motorcycle and noticed a man with long dark hair lying next to it. Apparently, he had been asleep and had been awakened by the sound of David's motorcycle.

The man, who seemed to be a few years younger than David, slowly got up from the ground and looked in David's direction. The former vampire stopped a few yards from the man. For a few minutes, they looked each other in the eye. "I know your face," David finally broke the silence. "And I know yours," whispered the younger man as tears ran down his face.

David had grown older, but his eyes and smile were unmistakable. "I saw you die," Gabriel said. "How is that possible?" David was touched by Laddie's reaction.

"I don't know," he replied and opened his arms as he walked towards Gabriel."Laddie Thompson, just come here, boy!" A while later, when Marko arrived on the cliffs with a few cans of beer in the saddlebags of his motorcycle, he was confronted with a curious scene.

David stood close to the abyss next to a strange motorcycle and embraced a dark-haired man. Marko drove grinning over to the two of them, pulled his helmet off his head and hung it on the handlebars. Then he stopped the engine in astonishment and got off the machine.

David and the other man looked at Marko. "Hey, Marko," David said cheerfully. "Look who I found up here. Our little-lost brother, Laddie!"

Marko looked from man to man with his eyebrows raised. "Laddie," he finally said. "I can't believe it. You've grown, boy!" Laddie still looked at the two men in disbelief.

"I can't believe you're really there," he replied. "This is the most beautiful thing that's happened to me in a long time!" The two former vampires smiled. "It's the same with us," David replied. "How have you been, boy?"

Gabriel looked at the two men thoughtfully. "Well, it wasn't that easy," he explained. "Lucy Emerson took Star and me in first. Finally, she managed to locate my biological parents. But they had alcohol and drug problems. When they came to Santa Carla to pick me up, they were drunk and stoned. That's how I ended up in a foster home. But these people were completely overwhelmed with my problems, and so I was passed from one foster family to the next."

He looked on the ground in shame as he remembered how he had shouted at the poor people and spoke of his vampires; David and Marko just nodded. The former vampires had meanwhile stacked wood for a campfire and Marko was busy igniting it as he listened.

"That is very sad," he replied, but Gabriel just waved off. "Well, my parents could not provide me with an adequate home," he continued. "I didn't prefer to be a runaway without a reason and I missed you all very much and have since been struggling with mood swings and depression."

Gabriel looked thoughtfully into the fire. David and Marko looked at him sympathetically. "Well," said Marko finally. "That's not what we imagined, we never wanted to hurt you!" "Hey, all right," laughed Gabriel. "You really do not need to justify yourself, the time I spent with you had been the best time of my childhood!"

David smiled at him. "We met Star," he said, explaining how it had happened. "I have a daughter," David shot his report smiling. Gabriel looked at him smiling for a while. "Well," he finally answered. "I was even married, and I have a daughter too, her name is Nissa and she has been living in Europe with her mother since she was four years old, she is now a young lady, but unfortunately I have no contact with the girl!"

"So you're a dad," David replied smiling. "Maybe we should not call you Laddie anymore, but use your real name instead." Laddie looked at him in astonishment. "Oh no," he replied. "I think that would sound weird, so you have a daughter with Star, I have not seen Star forever, if I had known she was in town, I would have visited her long ago!"

David frowned and shrugged his shoulders. "Forget it," he said. "She is totally crazy and feels persecuted by vampire hunters, her apartment is secure, like a high-security wing."

Gabriel looked at him in surprise. "And your daughter," he asked. "How is she?" Marko started to laugh. "Big Daddy over there would like to know that, too," he said. "Star left the girl with her mother when the girl still was a baby," David explained angrily. "Allegedly, she did not want Hope to live on the run."

Laddie looked at him in horror. "My goodness, she should have known that this child would be, let's say, special. I just mean because you weren't human back then," he remarked. "We all have our problems with vampire blood in our system. Surely you do, too?"

David nodded and looked into the flames. "We were with her because I wanted to talk to her again. She made me so angry that I just drove around for a while," he replied. "After all, I drove here, I wasn't even aware of it, but now I'm really happy about it. Star claims she's only in town because she found out our daughter is here too. She says Hope is in danger because of Edgar and Alan!"

Now Laddie had to laugh. "Well, Alan disappeared in Washington many years ago, and Edgar's having other problems right now!" David grinned. "What's he got more important than hunting vampires," he asked bitterly.

"Well, I got my business on the boardwalk," Laddie said. "I've seen him a few times. I guess he didn't recognize me. What should I say, hunting vampires with plaster foot and cripples I imagine somewhat difficult!"

David and Marko laughed. "I guess that's true," Marko finally said. "What kind of business are you in?" Laddie smiled. "I own the only tattoo studio on Boardwalk," he proudly explained.

"DDMP tattoos," Marko asked with a smile. "What does the name mean?" Laddie looked at him amused. "Well, I guess someone's standing on the line a little bit," he remarked. "Think hard! A little hint, they're initials!"

David looked at the younger man amazed. "You named your business after us," he asked. Laddie smiled again. "Sure, how else," he asked.

Marko looked thoughtfully into the fire for a moment. "If Paul and Dwayne were here, it'd be like old times," he finally remarked.

Laddie and David nodded. "I think it's terrible that the remains of the two have been burned down with James' old house," Laddie noted.

Marko and David looked at each other and grinned. "They are not burned," David finally replied. "Don't ask me where I got the strength back then, but I got them out of there before it burned down." "We buried Paul and Dwayne in the paddock before we left town," Marko said.

Wow, "Laddie said," that's really cool! There are rumors about the house of James. "Many years ago four guys disappeared there."

David and Marko looked at him with interest. "How did that happen," Marko asked.

Laddie smiled. "The guys were part of a motorcycle gang who used to meet there to party, there must have been an accident because one of the four machines was damaged in the paddock, and the other three were found in the adjacent woods, the guys; not a trace, the whole thing is very mysterious, Sam Emerson also disappeared that night."

The two former vampires smiled. "That sounds interesting," Marco answered. "Maybe we should take a look at the graves of our lost brothers!" Gabriel grinned. "I'm in," he called cheerfully.

David just nodded and looked thoughtfully into the fire. After a while, Marko looked over at Laddie with a smile. "I plan to get a tattoo done," he explained. "Actually, I wanted to come to your store for an appointment today, but Star has changed our plans a bit!"

Laddie smiled too. "You know what," he answered." Come in tomorrow afternoon, then we'll see. " Marko nodded. "Sure, thank you, I'll come!"

David had now got up and looked down at the sea. "Do you know what happened to the stairs, they're shattered down there," he asked with interest.

"I guess the 1989 earthquake destroyed it," Laddie said. "But I do not know exactly.

"Pity," answered the platinum-blond man. "I was hoping we could sleep in our lair since all three of us are no longer fit to drive. Well, we just sleep here!"

Marko and Laddie nodded. "I have slept up here often, I do not mind!" "We also have slept outside a few times," said Marko. "It's really cool!"

The three men sat around the fire for a while, drinking all of the beer, not realizing they were being watched by a male figure all the time. This creature had listened to the conversations of the three unsuspecting men and was beginning to make plans. This creature had only the desire to be near its creator, he longed for his sire. But he still was too scared to get any closer to the two vampires.


	17. A cold-blooded murder

Chapter 17: A cold-blooded murder?

Hope awoke a few hours later than usual. There was no noise from traffic here in the cave or people talking loud at the bus stop in front of her house, and no alarm clock, there was only the sea thundering against the rocks.

At first, she was surprised that she woke up in a strange bed, but then she remembered the events of the previous night and she felt insecure. She sat up and wrapped the soft blanket around herself.

Of course, the vampires were awake and Hope watched them for a while. Paul was sitting in an old wheelchair with a magazine about metal bands. His long legs hung over one of the armrests. He had headphones on and his head moved to the beat of the music.

Dwayne was lying on one of the sofas, reading a book whose title the young woman could not recognize from the bed; it looked pretty worn out.

At some point, he noticed that he was being watched. He put the book down on the table, got up, and walked over to Paul. Dwayne pulled the headset from his buddy's head, who looked around in astonishment.

The dark-haired vampire pointed at Hope, who was now looking sheepishly down at her blanket. "Our daughter has finally awakened from her slumber," Dwayne explained.

The tall, blond vampire stood up too, walked over to Hope and stopped in front of the bed with his arms crossed over his chest. "Hello, little one," he said, smiling. "Did you sleep well?"

When he got no answer, he sat down on the bed. "Yes, I know," he explained. "The bed is not in the best shape, and this cave is certainly not as clean as you're used to, but it's rent-free and inaccessible to people, so this place is perfect for us!"

Hope was angry. "I want to go home," she yelled at him. "Why did you bring me here?" Paul rolled his eyes annoyed. "Didn't you get it," he finally asked. "You are at home! That's the place you belong!"

His face changed, he showed Hope what he really was. She screamed and jumped out of bed in a panic. Paul walked around the bed toward the young woman, who backed away from him. After a few steps, she was stopped by the cliff that bounded the niche where the bed stood.

She was now trapped between the vampire and the wall and clapped her hands over her eyes.

"Look at me, Hope," Paul ordered. Hope shook her head and tears ran down her cheeks. "Look at me," he repeated more gently, taking her hands off her face. She just closed her eyes and shook her head again, sobbing softly.

"Damn, girl, open your eyes," Dwayne said, who was vamped out as well and stood next to his buddy. He didn't blame Hope for being terrified, but it did not help, she was part of this family and it was time she finally learned the truth about her background.

"Hope, look at us now," both vampires begged. She finally opened her eyes. Paul sighed with relief and let go of her hands. "What you see now," Dwayne explained, "is what you are. You'll never grow old, and you won't die, but you have to feed!"

Hope shook her head. "No," she whispered, crying. "I am not like you! I saw what you did to that poor woman, how could you?" Dwayne raised his eyebrows and his forehead curled.

"Poor woman," he replied. "You have no idea. That woman was bad. Every night she left her children alone while her husband was working. She drank up his hard earned money. For one drink, she wanted to have sex with both of us. Believe me, her family is better without her!"

Hope looked at him skeptically. "And so what, you're God who decides who will live and who will die," she asked. Dwayne sighed. "God," he replied contemptuously. "He's got nothing to do with any of this. I never believed in him. I'm just me. And I want to live, and I have to feed, that's how simple it is!"

Paul nodded approvingly. "Right," he said. "And the sooner you'll get it, girl, the better!"

"I don't want to kill innocent people," Hope yelled at the vampires. "Sure, you'd rather kill innocent animals and lie to yourself," Paul said. "What are we, Hope? And what do we eat?"

The young woman looked at him defiantly and shrugged her shoulders. "I know exactly what you are," she shouted. "Then say it," Paul yelled back. "Say it out loud!"

He was furious and desperate and wanted to go for Hope, but Dwayne held him back.

"Vampires," Hope whispered. "You're vampires." Dwayne nodded. "And what do we eat," he repeated Paul's question.

Insecure she looked at the floor. "You drink blood," she replied. Dwayne nodded again. "Just like you," he remarked. Paul looked angrily into her eyes. "You know what," he finally said very quietly. "You're a hypocrite, just like your mother!"

The young woman looked at him shocked. Her lips were pressed together in a line. "You know my mother," she finally asked. The vampires laughed bitterly. "She wanted her Romeo, your daddy," Dwayne explained. "He could be very romantic, but she could not handle the whole package she got, his name is David, he was our leader and sire."

Hope looked at the silver bangle she always wore on her right wrist. Dwayne's eyes followed her gaze. "Exactly, the bangle was his," said the vampire, pointing to the jewel. The ring on your left hand is mine and the other one is our Goldilocks over there. The black skull dangling from your right ear belongs to Marko and the other earring had been a gift from your father. He wore the counterpart."

Paul watched her. "I would say, your mother just took our belongings, although I don't understand why!"

Hope looked thoughtfully at the floor. She was wearing stolen jewelry. She did not like that. She walked over to the vampires, who were now sitting on one of the sofas, and studied the two rings for a moment. She loved all the trinkets, as they were all Hope had from her parents, whom she did not know.

With a sigh, she pulled the garnet rings from her fingers and held them out to the vampires. They looked surprised at the young woman and smiled. Finally, Paul got up, took the two rings out of her hand and put his back on Hope's finger. The other he handed his buddy.

He took it with a smile and put it back to the young woman's finger as well. "They look good on you," he explained. "Besides, you are our child now!" He kissed her hands and sat down again.

"What do you mean," Hope asked shyly. "Easy," Dwayne explained. "You drank our blood last night. The bottle, you remember?" Hope looked at the two in confusion. "Why did you do that?" She asked after sitting down on a chair facing the sofa.

This time, Paul answered her question. "You were hungry and we had nothing else to offer," he said. "Besides, life in this cave will be easier now." "Hey little butterfly," laughed Dwayne. "There's a mental connection through the blood, you drank from Paul, and he tasted your blood as well, you should be able to hear his thoughts, but that's a bad idea sometimes, he's pretty crazy!"

The young woman grimaced and looked at Paul, who was grinning broadly. Hope winced when she heard his voice in her mind. "You're hungry," she finally asked.

The tall blonde vampire nodded. "Wasn't that hard, was it," he asked. His buddy got up from the sofa and walked towards the entrance of the cave. He stopped there and turned to Paul. Hope observed with fascination how the two seemed to have a mental conversation.

"Okay, it will work this way," Dwayne finally said out loud. "You go and feed now, and when you come back, I'll go. We can't take her for hunt yet, but we can't leave her alone. He sneaks around here every night."

Paul nodded with relief. "I'm surprised he lasted so many years!" Then the vampire grabbed his jacket and disappeared. Hope wondered who they were talking about, but she didn't get an explanation this time.

Hope looked after him and sadly thought of the man he would kill. A few seconds later he stood in the cave again and looked anxiously at Dwayne. "You'll be fine on your own," he asked.

His buddy looked embarrassed at his boots. "I haven't had memory lapses since we got to Santa Carla," he replied. Paul nodded and then finally disappeared. Outside he looked around and saw the neglected creature hiding in the shade of the trees. The vampire sighed and then flew towards the boardwalk.

Inside the cave, Dwayne had sat down on the armrest of Hope's armchair and stared at her. "This mental connection I was talking about is an important thing," he tried to explain. "It may save your life!" Hope looked at him anxiously and wanted to run away, but she knew she wouldn't get far, so she didn't even try.

"That's right," Dwayne said. "I can read your mind, but you can't read mine because you're not a real vampire. But if I drink your blood, it's a different story!" Hope jumped up horrified, but Dwayne held her by the wrist. "Relax, child," he reassured her. "I don't want to hurt you or kill you. A little bite, some blood, that's it. You'll wear my mark, and no other vampire will dare touch you. Besides, you can talk to me, distance doesn't matter ." He pulled the young woman onto his lap, stroked her hair aside and bit her. Hope sobbed, but she didn't fight back. When he was finished, he pressed a kiss on her forehead and held her for a moment.

For Hope, it felt like a fatherly embrace, at least that's how she imagined it. Dwayne sat down on the sofa again and closed his eyes. "Paul, really," he murmured as he saw it in his mind. "You just can't let it go, can you?"

Paul's loud laughter in his mind was the only answer he got. The young woman looked at him in astonishment. She had so many questions. Wasn't that why she had come back to the cliffs? But now she didn't know what to start with. She looked at Dwayne, who was lying on the sofa with his eyes closed, and found that the vampires weren't bad after all.

It was true, the vampires had scared her last night, but neither of them had seriously hurt her. The two had answered all the questions. "What happened to my parents," she asked and waited eagerly for an answer.

"To be honest," he tried to explain, "I do not know, we found your mother back then, who ran away from home, David liked her and we offered her a place to sleep. Your father was romantic and he also had charisma and he was very convincing, they became a couple, your second name, Jones is his name."

Dwayne got up and got two cans of beer out of the fridge that had not worked for a long time. After giving one of the cans to the young woman, he continued to talk. "As I mentioned earlier, she refused to seek her first victim, from the day she knew we were vampires, she retired, and we were amazed how long she remained a half-vampire, despite her abdominal cramps. We did not expect this to happen, you know it for sure and know what I'm talking about?"

Hope looked at him sadly and nodded. "Your father made the mistake of giving her Max' blood," Dwayne continued. Max was David's sire, what Paul and I are now for you. Maybe he would have had more influence on her if she had drunk David's blood."

"He could have manipulated her easier then, you mean," Hope interrupted his story. The young woman noticed a draft and suddenly Paul was standing right in front of her, covered with blood from top to bottom.

"Did I miss something," he asked amused when he saw Hope's horrified face. Dwayne looked the blonde vampire up and down. "It seems you had a nice dinner," he remarked dryly. "But I think your sight scares our little butterfly!"

Paul looked from Dwayne to Hope, then grabbed the young woman who was trying in vain to escape his grip and pressed his bloodied lips to hers. Then he let her go and pushed her back into the chair. Hope looked at him startled and protested, but finally, she licked the blood from her lips. She had never tasted anything so delicious. The two vampires watched with a grin. "That's what you need to survive," Paul finally commented.

Then he said the word to his buddy. "I let the little one go. I've found something much better. Must have been the young lady's lucky day. Well, she wasn't my type anyway. I had priests for breakfast!" Paul projected a picture into Dwayne's mind, and he laughed out loud.

"What, he's become a priest," Dwayne finally asked amused. Paul nodded. 'Guess who he was working with,' he communicated telepathically. "You should have seen his face when he recognized me," he said out loud. "It was divine!"

The vampires made some jokes about the priest, that were not very nice. They did not notice that Hope was watching Paul hungry. Her fangs came out and her yellow glowing eyes followed every movement the blonde vampire made. Before the men could react, she jumped on Paul and bit into his throat.

The surprised vampire laughed loudly, put his arms around Hope, who drank greedily from him, and dropped onto the sofa next to his buddy. "You could have asked too," he said grinning, and like Dwayne, he watched her amused.

"See, kid, I tried to explain that to you," the dark-haired vampire finally noticed. "Wait and see how good you feel after you've had your first victim!" He looked at Paul smiling. "Maybe she's not as stubborn as her mother," he remarked dryly. "Speaking of victims, can I leave you alone for a while, I'm starving?"

Hope didn't even notice he had left the cave. She was completely out of it and felt better with every sip she drank. Paul stopped her when he started to feel a little weak, but he was satisfied. He would later look for another victim, but at least he had fulfilled his obligation to take care of his first child, and that made him happy.

Hope slowly regained consciousness. She noticed that she was sitting on the vampire's lap and she realized what she had done. She had been guided by her instincts. She jumped off Paul's lap and looked down at the floor with shame. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean..."

"I'm not sorry," the vampire interrupted her. "I've never been sire before, and I'm telling you, it feels damn good. Hey, don't look so horrified, kid. You're not ready for your first victim, so it's our job to help you! You'll see, it's not that bad!"

Hope looked desperately into Paul's eyes, still not knowing if she could trust the vampires. "It just confuses me," she finally said with tears in her eyes. "I've always been an outsider. That's why I decided to do the social worker's job. I wanted to make sure that other young people didn't have the same fate as me!"

Paul looked at her smiling. "You've taken on a responsible job," he replied. "We've been watching you. You've done your job very well, but now is the time to think about yourself. You cannot hide your true nature forever and animal blood would not satisfy you in the long run. Maybe at some point, you'd attract other people's attention and they'd hunt you down and kill you. To be alone is dangerous for our species!"

Hope looked at him thoughtfully and shrugged her shoulders, whatever should she have answered. Hope looked around the room and noticed for the first time how beautiful this cave actually was.

Parts of the sunken hotel were clearly visible. The floor was covered with black and white tiles, which were arranged like chessboards. Large parts of the floor were complete. On the walls, which were still preserved from the reception room of the hotel, there were wallpapers with gold borders, which once must have been very expensive. At different places, there were still ornate candlesticks hanging on the walls, which of course didn't work, because there was no electricity here.

In front of the sofas and armchairs lay carpets. All these things were mixed with the things the four vampires had once brought into the cave, like the large red toolbox and the decorations the four had made from starfish, shells and other things themselves.

During the last thirty-one years, when nobody had lived in the cave, many things had broken down and a thick layer of dust lay everywhere. The rest had been removed by the humidity, which was normal for caves of this kind.

After all, in the past three decades, there has been no one who would have provided any warmth with cozy fires in the metal barrels. The barrels themselves were also destroyed and had holes caused by rust. Paul and Dwayne had bought new barrels in the last few nights and used the old chests in which they had once stored their clothes, which were also unusable after all these years, as firewood.

The vampires had also burned their old jeans and shirts and bought new clothes. Paul recently loved chequered flannel shirts, which were pleasant to wear and very easy to care for. The vampires could wash their clothes in the laundromat, but iron them - no, that would probably go too far.

"Have you always lived here," Hope asked into the silence. Paul smiled thoughtfully and looked at the magnificent chandelier that had fallen from the ceiling at some point and was now lying in the old fountain.

"Come to sit with me, child," he finally asked and patted on the sofa next to him. Hope complied with his request and looked at him with excitement. "What did you talk to Dwayne about," asked the tall blonde vampire and put his arm around the young woman's shoulders.

"He told me about my parents," the young woman replied and reported on the exact content of the conversation. Paul nodded. "Okay," he said. "We were originally four, your father David was the oldest, then came Dwayne, then Marko and I have been the youngest. I don't know exactly how long the three had been in Santa Carla, but David said he could use someone who knew the city well and I had no place to sleep. I liked them, especially Marko, he quickly became my best buddy. Your father told me that they were vampires and that I could become one. I thought the three of them were kidding me, of course, but they showed me the truth. That was nineteen hundred and eighty-two, I was twenty-three years old at the time. I've never regretted joining them. We had a great time together. A few years later your mother joined us and a little later we found a little boy on the Boardwalk. His name was Laddie. By an unfortunate accident, he also became a half-vampire. Your mother, as I said, refused to kill. She distanced herself from us and took care of Laddie. Finally, she met another man. She betrayed us and took Laddie. It almost cost our lives. Unfortunately, we don't know what happened to Marko and David. Dwayne and I woke from our sleep of death twenty-one years ago. Somebody had buried us. Well, we've been alone since that night. We left the city then and returned only a few weeks ago"

Hope thought for a moment. "And your victims," she finally asked. "Have you no pity for all the people you have to kill every night?" Paul didn't get to answer her question because Dwayne flew into the cave. He held a dilapidated, wriggling male figure in his arms, which he dropped in front of the old fountain.

"Tell us, Paul," he shouted amusedly, dropping himself on the sofa on the other side of the young woman and also putting an arm around her shoulders. "Do you pity them?"

Paul laughed and shrugged his shoulders, then he pointed questioningly to the figure in front of the fountain. Dwayne frowned. "Don't you think he suffered long enough," he asked. Then he looked at Hope smiling. "I brought your older brother home!" The figure in front of the fountain just growled.

Meanwhile, three men stood on the old paddock on James Marten's property looking at two empty graves.


	18. Mysterious man

When Marko, David, and Laddie awoke the next morning at the sunken hotel, it was still early and dark. Laddie was in a good mood and just happy that he had met Marko and David again.

The two were not so good. Their passports already showed that they were over fifty, and in fact, they were actually still a few decades older. David and Marko had pain in their bones, lying on the hard ground, they were now just too old for such actions. In addition, both had a hangover, although each of the two men had drunk only four cans of beer.

Since they were no longer vampires, they did not tolerate much alcohol, it was really corrosive! Actually, both men had always loved to party, and one or the other beer was part of it.

"What is up," David asked pointedly, after stretching himself. "Are you two able to drive?" Laddie grinned. "Sure," he said. "And you?"

Marko touched his forehead and shrugged. "Do we have a choice," he finally asked. "Wow, I think my skull is about to burst," he added, grimacing. Laddie had already picked up the beer cans and packed into the saddlebag of Marko's motorcycle while David released the last sparks from the fire.

But now Laddie sat on his bike ready to go, had already started the engine and watched Marko amused. He was pulling on his helmet and moving very slowly toward his bike.

"Well, old man," joked Laddie. "We can meet up another day to talk about your tattoo if you prefer," he added with a laugh. Marko waved. "No, no, it's okay," he replied. "I only need a few hours sleep and a shower, after that I'm as good as new!"

David, who was now sitting on his machine, smiled. "Are you sure," he said. Marko nodded. "Where do you live, anyway?" Laddie asked. "We rented a caravan over there at the campsite," David explained. "Ah, cool," Laddie replied. "Will you come to my shop with Marko later?" David shook his head. "I want to see if I can find out anything about my daughter in the web," he noted. "But you could call when you're done and we'll have something to eat somewhere."

"Good idea," Laddie said. Marko nodded and then the three men drove off. Laddie honked briefly as he parted from his friends, then disappeared.

When Marko and David arrived at the campsite, David again noticed the Mercedes van. The vehicle had definitely not been moved because the windshield was full of pollen that fell off the trees. David could swear that he had never seen anyone on this vehicle before. He was a good observer and therefore knew exactly which cars the few neighbors owned who stayed at the campsite, the Mercedes was not one of them.

Arriving in the caravan, Marko went silently into his room to sleep for a few hours more. David stood in the middle of the living area and looked for a minute at the door that had closed behind Marko.

Marko looked very pale and tired, he was in a bad way. David knew full well that the return to Santa Carla had brought back bad memories that Marko had suppressed for a long time. Marko never said anything about it, but he didn't need to. David knew exactly what was going on in his buddy and felt responsible.

It didn't matter how many years had passed since that night, David had been the leader of the Lost Boys, as the gang was called. He had made a rash, stupid decision, even though Dwayne and Paul had tried everything to persuade David.

The two of them would have preferred to have taken care of Marko first, who was supposed to recover after Edgar Frog's attack. Edgar, Alan and Michael's younger brother - well, the three could have been taken care of by the vampires later.

But David was so angry that night that he was no longer master of his senses, and he could be damn stubborn. He wanted his woman and the boy back, they belonged to the Lost Boys! And finally, Dwayne and Paul followed their sire, they followed him to their death!

Normally David was a prudent being, he always took all risks into account. Such a rash action was not David's way at all, but the attack on Marko simply went too far! Finally, Dwayne and Paul, and even the mighty vampire Max had been destroyed.

Max was David's sire at the time, he had given immortality to young David. Even though David could not always understand all of Max's actions and sometimes made life difficult for him with his boys, David respected Max and was loyal to him.

Loyalty was very important for vampires, you had to be able to rely on each other blindly, Max had repeatedly inculcated this in his children, as he called the Lost Boys, and after that night David knew that Max was right.

Michael had only survived the first night in the cave because Max wanted him to. If it had been David at that time, the night would have been completely different for Michael and the young man would have been food for the sharks in the end!

Sure, David could understand that Michael had run after Star like a puppy, she was nice to look at and had a friendly nature. But even when Michael had seen Star for the first time, he should have realized that Star was David's girl, and she was out of limit! When David saw Michael again together with Star one night later, he would have loved to tear Michael to pieces!

But what could David possibly do? Max had other plans at that time, he wanted to make Lucy Emerson his wife, and this woman of all people was Michael's mother. Max wanted David to take Michael into the gang first and then his younger brother, and Max was the law!

With a sigh, David put his helmet on a chair, no matter what, he had underestimated these children at that time. That's why Dwayne and Paul were dead. And even if David would not like to say that out loud, he felt guilty, and that would never change!

Dejected, David also withdrew and lay down in his bed. He was plagued by a nightmare, and he rolled back and forth restlessly. He saw the faces of his fallen brothers Paul and Dwayne. At some point Hope's face turned up as a baby with yellow glowing eyes and catches, David woke up sweaty and looked around his room irritated.

The man gazed at his alarm clock, it was already one o'clock at noon. David got up, but the dream had stirred him up so much that he trembled all over. Finally, he went into the living area and tampered with the coffee machine.

Marko was probably awake already, David heard the doors of Marko's closet clattering, obviously, Marko was looking for fresh clothes. "Hey, you want some coffee, too," David shouted.

Marko briefly stuck his head out the door. "Coffee sounds good," he replied, then he disappeared again. After a few minutes, he came back and sat down at the table with David, having already put his clothes on the laundry basket in the bathroom. "Christ, you look like shit," he said anxiously as he saw the dark rings under David's eyes. "You haven't slept so well, have you?"

Marko took his cup in his hand and looked at David thoughtfully, the replied Markos look with raised eyebrows. "Marko, I never told you I was sorry," David finally said. Marko nibbled on his thumbnail again, that was an old habit of his that he just couldn't get rid of.

Now Marko looked at his buddy in amazement. "What are you talking about," he asked. David smiled sadly. "That night," David explained. "I sent Paul and Dwayne to their deaths. It's my fault Max died! And all because of Star, she wasn't worth it! I had a terrible nightmare, I saw Paul and Dwayne, and little Hope!"

"You had a nightmare," Marko asked. David nodded. "If I hadn't acted so vindictive then, none of this would have happened!" Marko smiled mildly. "You may have made a mistake," Marko replied, "but the main culprit is Max! He wanted to turn a whole family into vampires, that was the dimmest idea Max ever had! And quite apart from what I thought of Star - if I'd been you, I wouldn't have somebody steal my wife me either. If I had been you that days, I'd have ripped Michael to shreds!"

David smiled again. "You've always been loyal to me, you never questioned me, no matter what sort of bullshit I had in store!" "Well, whatever," Marko replied. "We had a lot of fun most of the time!"

David laughed briefly. "We used to behave like immature children, just to annoy Max! I mean, we were old men, in the body of young adults, I was many years older than Lucy Emerson, she had no idea what was going on, but we had nothing better to do but scare her off when she left Max's shop to go home! Still, I would give everything to get back to the life we had, I really do not like to admit it, but I feel old and I feel like I'm just working!"

Marko looked at the coffee cup he held in his hand. "I know exactly what you mean, I feel the same way," he replied, looking at David sheepishly. "Life in this city brings back many painful memories!"

David nodded. "I'm glad we met the boy again," he finally said. Marko got up with a smile and put his coffee cup in the sink. "And I'm curious what the boy has to offer as a tattoo artist," he replied and went to the bathroom to take a shower. Half an hour later, Marko started his motorcycle and drove away.

David had a cigarette in his hand and watched his friend until he had disappeared from David's field of vision. 'Marko is really a loyal soul,' he thought, 'he deserves better than this!'

David's gaze fell again on the white van that nobody seemed to care about. Curious as he was, he walked over to the Mercedes. He peered through one of the windows into the interior of the vehicle. Well, there was not much to discover there. On the passenger seat was a fairly worn book, "Bram Stocker's Dracula". David grinned and was about to turn around to return to the caravan when his eyes fell on a small silver object lying in the driver's seat. It was an earring, in the shape of a sword.

David held his breath for a second. The earring Paul had worn back then looked exactly like this one. David shook his head sadly, threw his cigarette butt on the floor and went back to the caravan. He sat down at the table with a cup of fresh coffee and turned on his laptop.

He entered his daughter's name in the search engine and waited anxiously. Sometime later, he found a link to the local daily newspaper. In the article, David read, it was reported that Father Mike, the parish priest, had been given a new social worker. While Father Mike advised people seeking help in his facility, Miss Jones was traveling in the city. She specifically provided homeless youth with help and distributed durable foods, as well as hygiene products to them.

Under the report, there was a photo that showed the priest and a young woman. The priest was somehow familiar to David, but he did not bother with him. David's focus was on the young woman who was his daughter. Miss Jones wore her chocolate brown, smooth hair a little longer.

David smiled, not expecting Hope to keep the pale blonde hair she was born with. Few adult humans had hair as fair as David's. It was sometimes funny because people thought he had bleached his hair. But no, that was David's natural hair color.

With his daughter, the hair color of the mother had prevailed. Besides the priest, Hope looked very small, she just reached the man to the chest, and if she had not this feminine figure, she could easily have been mistaken for a child.

Except for the size, Hope looked very much like her father. She had the same blue eyes as Davids and his lips. But what particularly caught his eye was the freckles, her face was full of them. David had to smile, his own mother also had had so many freckles.

The young woman, who smiled tiredly and sadly at him from the photo, was neither very pretty nor ugly, but to David, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He was looking forward to the day he would finally meet her.

When David's eyes fell on the priest again, and the names of the persons depicted in the photo, he choked on his coffee and got a fit of coughing. Father Mike was actually Michael Emerson! Incredible! Star was right, Hope was in danger. David had to find her, and fast!

Well, at least David now knew what the young lady looked like he was looking for. David turned off his laptop and went outside to smoke a cigarette, then took a shower and decided not to wait for Marko's call as agreed. This news he wanted to tell his friends, he was too impatient to wait.

He took the black scarf and tied his hair into a braid, then took his jacket and helmet and went to his motorbike. David lightly lit a cigarette, then finally drove to Laddie's shop when he was finished smoking.

When David parked his motorcycle in front of Laddie's shop, they both came straight out. Marko was about to pull his smartphone out of the inside pocket of his jacket. When he saw David, he grinned and left the phone where it was.

Marko approached his friend. "Someone is impatient," he said. David got off his bike and greeted Laddie, who had meanwhile locked his business. David grinned at Marko and shrugged. "There is some interesting news," he justified his impatience.

Marko and Laddie looked at him intently. "What's going on," Laddie asked. David held his smartphone in his hand and searched for something. "I'll show you right away," he said. "You will not believe it!"

When he finally found the newspaper article he'd read on the laptop at home, he shoved the phone into Marko's hand. Marko read the report and looked questioningly at David. "Look at the photo," David asked, "and most of all, the names below!"

Marko raised his eyebrows and whistled once. Then he grinned and handed the phone to Laddie. "Star was right," David explained. "Hope is actually in danger!"

"So that's your daughter," Laddie asked, returning the phone to David. "Why is she in danger?" Marko looked at Laddie thoughtfully. "Michael probably will not know whose child Hope is," he explained, "but if he finds out before we find the young lady, that would not be good!"

David nodded. "That's right, did you know that Michael is the priest," he asked Laddie. Laddie shook his head. "I've heard about Father Mike, and have already donated money for his establishment, since I myself was homeless, as you know," Laddie replied. "But I never met the priest and did not know it was Michael."

"Michael Emerson is a priest," joked Marko. "Who would have thought that?" "Yes," replied David, with a serious expression. "And that's exactly what my little one works with, I do not like it at all!"

"Yeah, that sucks," Marko said, nibbling his thumbnail again. Laddie looked from David to Marko. "We could think about what we're going to do with this information while eating," he suggested. "I know a good Chinese restaurant not far from here."

Marko looked at Laddie and they both burst out laughing. "They're only noodles, Michael," both smirked. David grinned. "Okay boys, let's go," he said.

The restaurant, "The Chinese Dragon" was within walking distance of Laddie's studio just five minutes. It had two large rooms separated by the counter. There were also outdoor tables surrounded by half-height walls. Behind the walls, a lake had been created, which was located in a large park.

As it was cool that day, however, the three men opted for an indoor table. The table was right by one of the windows and David's gaze fell directly on the store opposite the restaurant.

It had once belonged to Max, today there was a computer game business owned by Lucy Emerson. Lucy was just leaving the store. She had grown old and looked sad and tired. Sure, David had heard that one day Sam Emerson had disappeared without a trace, which had to be terrible for his mother.

David had no grudge against Lucy, on the contrary, he was sorry for her, as he was for all the other women Max wanted to turn into vampires over time. None, except Lucy, had survived that.

All these thoughts did nothing to lighten David's mildly depressed mood. But what was he supposed to do, things were the way they were, and no matter if it sucked, he could not change that!

With a sigh, David took his eyes off the former video store and looked around the restaurant. His eyes fell on the buffet, which was not far from the table of the three men. "That looks really good," David remarked. "I've just decided what I want!"

Marko and Laddie looked up from the menus they held and followed David's gaze. "Hm, a buffet," said Marko finally. "Good choice, I'll take that too!" Laddie nodded in agreement. "Yes, me too, I'll start with the dessert," he explained in amusement.

When the three men left the restaurant about an hour later, David was in a slightly better mood. Laddie and Marko had been talking all the time, also about the tattoo that Marko wished to have. Laddie had painted it and Marko was very happy with the drawing. Previously, Laddie had shown photos of tattoos he had already made to Marko. Marko loved what he saw, Laddie was very talented.

The tattoo that Marko wanted showed an old railway bridge. Four young men were hanging below it and holding onto the iron bars of the scaffolding. The four men were David, Dwayne, Paul, and Marko. Dangling under the bridge was a game for the four vampires back then after the rides on the boardwalk got boring for them.

It was about who managed to stay on the iron bars the longest when a train thundered across the bridge. The vampire, that would let go first had to pay for all the drinks and food for the evening.

David had not participated in the conversation, he seemed absent all evening. So many things went through his mind. He really wanted to find his daughter, he would have to go to father Mike. But the priest was sure that David was dead, burned with the old house! Would Michael David recognize anyway? How would he react?

David's thoughts turned in circles, and he was not sure if he wanted to see Michael. But on the other hand, he wanted to protect his child at all costs, even though he did not know very long that he was a father. He felt responsible.

"What are we going to do," Laddie asked as David lit a cigarette outside. Marko looked from David to Laddie. "Well, I do not know if you like the idea, but I really want to visit the graves of Paul and Dwayne," he suggested.

His friends nodded and David remembered the items he had seen in the van. A few minutes later, the three men were on their way to James's old house, or rather, to the paddock behind the house. At the site, the men parked their motorcycles in front of the ruin, which had once been a magnificent house.

The fence that encircled the property looked like it was new. For David that was not a problem, because he had basically tools in the saddlebag of his motorcycle, you never knew! He took a side cutter with him and in no time cut a hole in the fence that allowed the men to slip onto the property.

David went ahead because he still knew exactly where the graves of Paul and Dwayne were. Burying a part of his family there was pretty much the worst thing David ever had to do.

David noticed immediately that the two crosses were no longer in place, one lay behind the graves in the bushes and the other lay broken beside Paul's grave. The hills that Marko and David had piled up on the graves at that time were also gone, and it was clear to David that the earth would sink over time, but both tombs looked more like a bomb under the ground had exploded.

At Marko's expression, David could tell, his friend had noticed all these things as well. "That's weird," Marko said skeptically.

David looked thoughtfully at Marko. "Nobody but us and now Laddie knew they were buried here." He hesitated for a moment and then told what he had seen lying in the van. "Something's wrong here," he finished his report.

Laddie and Marko looked at David in astonishment. "Their bodies were almost completely destroyed, but they have not been burned," David remarked.

Marko sighed. "Well, I don't know, Paul was just a skeleton ..." when he saw how seriously David looked at the graves, he raised his hands defensively. "Listen, buddies," Marko finally explained, "I saw a folding spade in the shed and we could fetch it and bring a flashlight.

David nodded. "I know that thought sounds absurd, but I'll bet Paul and Dwayne are not there anymore!" Laddie looked hopefully at the two. "Okay, I'm ready, what are we waiting for?"

Sometime later, Marko disappeared into the shed at the campsite to fetch the folding spade, David and Laddie waiting outside. Laddie looked around all the time while David was sitting on his motorcycle with a burning cigarette in his hand.

He took a movement out of the corner of his eye and looked over at the white Mercedes. There was someone there. A tall, male figure. David could not see the man's face as it was hidden under the hood of the dark jacket the man wore. The two men looked at each other for a moment, then the dark figure walked to the driver's side of the van and opened the door.

David got off his motorcycle and walked over to the Mercedes when he heard the door close again, he walked around the vehicle. The dark figure was gone. David looked through the window into the vehicle, the moon had enough light to see the interior of the Mercedes. David noticed immediately that the objects he had seen lying on the seats in the afternoon were no longer there.

David looked around in astonishment, but the dark figure had disappeared without a trace. David had a weird feeling and he felt watched. His hair at the back of his neck rose, and he preferred to go back to Marko and Laddie.

David could not know that he was actually being watched. The figure, now sitting high in a tree, had recognized him and wondered why he was human. The figure was still watching as the three men left the campsite with their motorcycles.

"David, Marko," the figure whispered, then flew away in the direction of Hudson's bluff.


	19. Missed

Hope sat amazed between the vampires and looked at the figure, who had meanwhile sat down on the old fountain.

"Who is that," Hope asked, confused. "And why is that my brother, I have no siblings!" Paul smiled down at her. "Well, that's right, Dwayne and I are brothers too because your dad was our sire," he explained. "David's blood has made us vampires, just as our blood has made you!"

Dwayne looked aside when Paul mentioned David, and when Paul looked over at his friend, he knew immediately that Dwayne was keeping something from him. Paul looked at Dwayne with a frown. "What's up," he asked. "What's up," Dwayne asked back.

'I can not say that out loud,' he added, telepathically. 'I'll explain that later! Now we have to take care of them first! ' Paul sighed. He did not like it when Dwayne kept something from him, but finally, he nodded.

Dwayne got up from the sofa and walked over to the figure on the fountain. "What is wrong, the young lady asked for your name," he said amused. "Where are your good manners, child?" The figure just growled at Dwayne and glared at Hope, who immediately moved closer to Paul, who grinned.

Dwayne growled back, sounding deeper and more threatening, like the unknown man's growl. "Stop that shit," Dwayne finally ordered, then turned to Hope.

"Hope, this is Sam Emerson," he explained, "my lost son!" Then he turned back to Sam. "Welcome to the family," Dwayne stated, grinning. "I never thought you'd survive alone for so long, and I never thought I would ever see you again, but hey, my mistake is that I did not just kill you! It's not often that it happens twice! Well, I'm your sire, whether it suits us or not, so you'll stick to our rules from now on, get it! "

Hope looked amazed between Sam and Dwayne. "Are you related to Michael Emerson," she finally asked. "We worked together."

"My brother does not work with bloodsuckers," Sam answered angrily and Hope looked annoyed at him, 'what a nut,' she thought.

Of course, Paul heard her thoughts and burst into laughter. "Yes, yes," Paul finally answered Hope's question, although Sam had already done that himself. "Sam is Michael's little brother, and Sam's right, Mike would never work with bloodsuckers like us, strictly speaking, he will not work with anyone except the sharks, or, more precisely, the sharks will work with him, like food!"

Sam looked puzzled at Paul. "What does that mean," he asked. Paul grinned. "Your big brother once again had to play the hero and saved my victim," Paul reported. "Well, he saved the victim that I chose, but unfortunately it was the last thing he did, he will never again cause any problems!"

Sam looked at Paul shocked and defiant. Then he realized what exactly Paul had just said and Sam rushed furiously at him. "And now it's your turn," he shouted.

Paul laughed again and he was prepared for Sam to attack him, to be honest, he had hoped that. "Do you want to play," Paul asked, picking up Samm's upper arms and flinging him across the room.

Sam crashed into the wall next to the elevator shaft and fell to the ground. Paul walked up to Sam while Dwayne stood on the fountain ready to intervene, if necessary. Hope sat on the sofa with her mouth open and watched Paul and Sam in fascination. Sam's skin had burst in some places from the impact but healed long ago. Hope could not believe what she saw there!

"You and your stupid friends," Paul shouted furiously, dragging Sam off the floor just to throw him back across the room. "You three did not manage to kill us at the time ..." Sam crashed into the red toolbox, which tumbled to the ground with a big bang. "Why do you think that's different today," Paul said, pausing in front of Sam, who looked up helplessly at the tall blond vampire.

Dwayne drifted down from the fountain, walked over to Sam and put him back on his feet. "Look," Dwayne said to Sam. "We've never done anything to you, we've never done something to children, but you had nothing better to do than attack and hurt Marko while he slept!"

"But your friend said that Marko was dead," Sam interrupted his sire, pointing to Paul. "I was kidding you then," countered Paul. "Your friend, the idiot missed Marko's heart! Marko was hurt, but far from dying!"

Sam walked up to Paul and looked into his eyes angrily. "I just wanted to protect my brother from becoming a bloodsucker," he shouted. "We just wanted to protect our family!" Paul pushed Sam aside and walked past him to the sofa, from where Hope had watched the exchange between the three vampires, completely perplexed.

The blond vampire sat down next to the young woman and put his arm around her shoulder. "And where did that take you," Paul asked. "Just look at yourself, now you're the bloodsucker! We did not do anything other than you, we just wanted to protect our family, your stupid brother tried to steal David's woman, he knew Star was with David, and yet he could he will not keep his hands off her! "

Paul smiled down at Hope. "And we still protect our family now!" Hope looked up at Paul in surprise. It was hard to believe that this cold-blooded killer sitting next to her could be so vulnerable on the other side.

Dwayne sat back on the other side of Hope and looked at Sam for a moment. "It's basically very simple, Sam, the little one here is born into our family, though she did not know it until yesterday," Dwayne explained, pointing to Hope. "You, well, you wanted to kill us back then, so you'll have to earn our trust first!"

Paul nodded. "And I bet you still have no idea whose kid this young lady is, but that does not matter until we can trust you, we'll lock you up in one of the back rooms by day, "Paul said. "We do not want to experience a nasty surprise! If it was up to me, you'd be history, but Dwayne is your sire, and he wants to give you a chance!"

Sam looked furiously at the ground but did not reply. He was glad that he was no longer alone and had long since realized that loneliness was the worst thing a vampire could experience. What kind of eternal life did you have, if you could not share it with anyone?

Dwayne got up from the sofa, grabbed Sam, who protested half-heartedly, and took him to one of the back rooms. Outside it was getting light and the vampires were getting tired, it was time to go to sleep, Hope's eyes had already closed. Paul carried her to her bed, took off her shoes and covered her, then went to the small cave in the back where the vampires slept during the day; Dwayne was already waiting for him.

The brunette vampire fumbled in his jeans pocket and finally pulled out Paul's earring. "It was in the driver's seat in the van," Dwayne explained, handing Paul the jewelry. "You already missed him, right?"

"You were at the van," Paul asked in amazement, putting his earring in his earlobe. Dwayne nodded. "You will hardly believe who I saw there," he replied. Paul looked into his eyes with a smile. "Tell me, who did you see?"

Dwayne looked down. "David, Marko," he finally said pleased. It took Paul a moment to realize what his friend had just told him. The blonde vampire was stunned by Dwayne and so perplexed that he wasn't able to reply.

Dwayne put a hand on Paul's shoulder. "The two have changed," he explained. Do not ask me how it's possible, but David and Marko are human again! "

Paul's face twisted into a grin, then he burst into laughter. "Humans, David and Marko," he smirked. "We will probably free both of them from this evil!"

Dwayne nodded. "When the time is right," he replied with a smile. "Our pack will be together again, as should be!" Paul had now taken off his boots and socks and was already upside down on the pole, where the vampires always slept. "I can not wait," he whispered happily before falling into his death-like sleep. A minute later, Dwayne hung contentedly smiling beside his buddy.

xxxxxxxxx

A few days later, Marko finally got the long-awaited tattoo. On his right thigh was now a picture of the old railway bridge in black. Under the bridge hung the four vampires, the legs of the four disappeared in the fog of the night and over the bridge, the moon shone. Marko was more than satisfied with Laddie's work and David also liked the tattoo.

Marko invited Laddie to eat at the campsite for the next day, Laddie was very pleased and gladly accepted the invitation. A freshly prepared meal sounded very tempting - Laddie himself could not cook very well, and he did not like it, so at home, there was usually a baking pizza, canned soups or he went somewhere to eat.

Marko had asked Laddie what he would like to eat, and he had wanted a vegetable stew with meat. Marko had just nodded, grinning, when Laddie had expressed that wish, and Laddie, well, he could hardly wait for the food. Even if a stew was nothing special, David had praised Marko's cooking more often, and that should mean something.

When Laddie arrived at Marko's and David's home on the afternoon of the following day, David was sitting outside in a chair with a cigarette in his hand, looking thoughtfully at the white van. David smiled at Laddie as he got off his motorbike and offered him a cigarette, which Laddie gratefully accepted.

Laddie peered through one of the windows into the caravan, where Marko was busy with the pots at the stove and waved to him with a smile, then sat down on the stairs. "I still can not believe the two graves are empty," Laddie finally remarked. "I would like to know what happened to both of them!"

David shrugged. "I have such a weird feeling," he replied, looking back at the big white Mercedes. "Sometimes I feel like someone is watching us!" Laddie looked at David in confusion. "You feel watched," he asked seriously.

David nodded. "I know, that sounds pretty stupid," he replied, "but Marko feels the same, there's something out there, and I do not know if I like it!"

Well, David was not a bit crazy, and Marko wasn't as well, because they were actually being watched. Paul could not resist flying to the campsite at least once a night after the hunt, to see what Marko and David were up to. Paul was much too curious and it had a hard time not to talk to them.

He felt that his two former brothers were not really happy with their existence as humans, but the men tried to make the best of it. Dwayne had urged Paul not to get in touch with David and Marko, and though Paul did not fully understand what Dwayne was waiting for, he knew that Dwayne's restraint was justified. So the tall blonde vampire was just content to just watch the two men!

One evening, Paul came back from the hunt and looked around the cave to see if he could talk to Dwayne alone. Sam was in his room to shape it to his liking , and Hope was on her way, exploring the cave.

"David and Marko have a new friend," Paul explained. "His face looks familiar, but I don't know, where I saw him before!" "What, you did not recognize him," Dwayne asked, astonished. "That's Laddie!"

Well, Paul smiled too. "Laddie, are you sure," Paul pursued. Dwayne looked down. "Yes, I'm sure, what sort of sire would I be if I did not recognize my child?" Paul looked at Dwayne confused.

"You're Laddie's sire," he questioned. Dwayne nodded. "I never told anyone, but do you remember that David refused to replenish the bottle of blood for Star because he wanted to give her his blood right out of his veins to keep her closer. " Paul nodded. "Well, you know that Star most times resisted David's offer to drink from him," Dwayne continued.

Paul nodded again. Dwayne looked at him seriously. "Star had bad abdominal cramps and I felt sorry," he explained. "Well, I secretly made sure the bottle was always well filled, even though she complained a lot, she was our sister!"

Paul raised his eyebrows. "When Laddie drank from the bottle, your blood was in it, not David's," he asked amused. Dwayne nodded. "Now I understand," Paul said after a short pause, then he started to laugh. "So you were sorry," he asked. "To be honest, sometimes I let her drink from me when nobody was around! She did not like doing that, but when her cramps were very bad, I often convinced her that she had to drink! I've been glad that David never found out, she was his woman after all! "

Dwayne grinned. "Of course, David knew what was going on, strangely, he never said a word about it," Dwayne reported, "but from that point on, he filled the bottle himself!" Paul smiled. "And I've always wondered why he was so generous with it again," he said with a laugh. "Little Laddie grew up, he looks good!"

Dwayne nodded. "I'm glad when we're all together again," he affirmed. "We'll take care of it when the little butterfly is truly one of us, and I think Sam is a danger to her at the moment, and thus to us. He complies, but he is suspicious, and the little one is our weak point. If Sam tries something stupid, he's going to attack Hope first, he's smart, he knows we protect her, even if it costs our lives!"

Paul looked at his friend thoughtfully. "Yes, you're probably right," he agreed with Dwayne. "We do not know how David and Marko react when they meet us, the four of us need to be able to rely on each other in an emergency!" Dwayne just nodded, watching Hope emerge from one of the hidden tunnels. She smiled at the vampires and went to the bookshelf.

While the vampires slept peacefully in their den, David, Marko, and Laddie had finished their meal not far from Hudson's Bluff and sat in front of the caravan with coffee and a cigarette in their hands.

"Did you actually do anything about your daughter?" Laddie asked with interest. David looked at him with a smile. "I was not sure if I really wanted to talk to Michael," he replied. "But if I want to find Hope, I probably have no choice!"

Laddie nodded thoughtfully. "I could do that for you," he suggested. "Michael will not recognize me, I was a little boy when he last saw me." David smiled again. "I appreciate your offer, but I have to do it myself," he replied.

Marko looked from Laddie to David. "When do you want to visit Michael," he asked. David looked thoughtfully at Marko. "Morning, late afternoon," he replied. "After I went to the workshop I told you about last night!"

Marko nodded. "Are you talking about the job as a mechanic that they offered to you," he inquired. "Oh, you accept this job," Laddie asked, puzzled. David looked slightly embarrassed, then nodded. "Unfortunately we do not have a gold donkey, and we are running out of money so," he explained with a grin. "The rent here is paid for a while, but we need to feed!"

Laddie grinned back at him. "I would need someone to help me with the shop," he offered Marko. "Would you like to do that?" Marko looked over at him in surprise. "Do you really earn so much that you can afford it," he asked curiously.

Laddie waved. "I've been thinking about hiring someone for a while," he explained. "But I could not bring myself to give up an ad so far, you never know who's going to annoy you all day, but the both of us, that would work out well!"

Marko thought for a moment. "Well, why not, I'm in. Thanks for the offer," he answered determined. "But before we start, I'll definitely go with David when he visits Michael! If you think you can have the fun alone, you've been wrong!" Laddie nodded. "Marko is right, I'm with you too," he noted. David grinned happily at the two. "I knew I can count on you," he replied.

After negotiating his salary with Jason, his future boss, the next day, David made his way to Laddie's studio, where he had an appointment with his friends. Laddie had said that Michael's facility was not far away, so the bikes stayed in front of the studio and the three men walked the short distance.

A few minutes later, they were sitting in the waiting room of Shannon Martin, Michael's coordinator. The decor was pretty hectic that day. Shannon was busy explaining to an elderly man what rules he had to follow if he wanted to stay in the facility, while a young priest in the stairwell shrieked to a group of young people and then escorted them outside.

A few minutes later, he returned with an annoyed expression and, after nodding to David, Marko, and Laddie, entered Miss Martin's office. The priest asked the older man to follow him and they went up the stairs to where the accommodations were.

Miss Martin closed the office door after asking for some patience from David and his friends. Through the glass door, David watched, eyebrows raised, as the plump woman took the phone from the station and typed in a number. After some waiting, she put the phone on the desk with a worried face and invited the three friends to come in.

The woman looked the men up and down and then smiled tiredly. "You must excuse me," she finally explained. "Everything has been going awry for a few days now, but please sit down and tell me how I can help you!"

"We're looking for father Mike, we're old friends of his and need to talk to him urgently," David answered with a grin. Shannon looked at David sadly. "Well, they come in vain, we are looking for him too," she proclaimed. "Father Mike has disappeared without a trace days ago!"

David and Marko exchanged a look, somehow the two had an idea where the priest might have disappeared to. "What does that mean," David went on anyway.

Shannon glanced nervously at her computer. "He's gone, not findable," she replied with tears in her eyes. "And in a city like this, that can not be good, he even missed an important meeting yesterday with our most generous financier, which he would never do without logging out of my account!"

David looked helplessly at Marko, but he just shrugged. He was about to say something, but then the telephone rang.

Miss Martin answered the call. "Hello Jenna, good evening," Shannon greeted the caller and rolled her eyes annoyed. "I'm sorry, Jenna, but Hope has not been on duty for two days, just like Father Mike, she's untraceable, I rang her yesterday, but she did not open, and she does not answer the phone! Hopes car that's in the parking lot in front of the house she lives in. No, the car looks like it has not been moved for days, it's covered with pollen all over!"

Shannon talked and talked, and David did not feel like waiting until the woman was done, and he knew he could not expect any help from Shannon, so he got up and left. Laddie and Marko followed him outside.

Outside the building, David lit a cigarette. "I do not like this at all," he noted. "What do we do if Michael found out whose child Hope is, and he locked her somewhere?"

Laddie looked wonderingly into David's eyes. "Why would Michael do that," he questioned. "Your daughter is just an ordinary young woman!" David shook his head. "No, that's just not her," he explained. "Star told us about an incident in the house of Hope's grandmother, her better nature has shown that girl nearly killed her grandmother, that's why she came here. When Hope gets angry, she's dangerous, like a ticking time bomb, if you understand what I mean, it's only a matter of time before the vampire inside of her gets the upper hand, so we absolutely must find her, she does not know what's slumbering in her! "

Laddie looked startled from David to Marko. "That's bad," he finally said," especially since Edgar is currently in town. Alone, he can not do much at the moment, but with Michael's help, it will look different. And as I know Edgar, he kills first and asks questions later!"

David nodded depressed. "It's late, we've wasted too much time here," he remarked. "It would be best if we go to Hope's apartment again!" Marko looked at him in surprise. "We do not even know where Hope lives," he finally said.

Despite the tense situation, David grinned and pulled his daughter's business card out of his pocket. He had stolen the card from Shannon's desk. Marko and Laddie nodded in amusement. "Then do not let us lose any more time," Marko told them and walked away.

Unfortunately, the three men soon realized that everything was exactly as Shannon had previously told Jenna on the phone. Hope did not open the door after David had rung the bell and did not answer the phone. And Hope's little white Ford actually did not look like it had been used in the last few days. Yellow pollen covered the entire vehicle.

David anxiously took his small block from his jacket pocket and wrote a message to his daughter on a piece of paper. He threw that into Hope's mailbox, which was not easy since she had not taken her mail out of the box. David managed to get some letters out of it, hoping to find some clue to his daughter's whereabouts. But it was just the usual post, bills from the electricity provider and advertising. So he stuffed the letters back and sat resignedly on his motorcycle.

"And what do we do now," Laddie asked. David looked back at the house and at Hope's car. "Is the comic shop still there" he finally asked. "Yes," Laddie answered. "I think so." David nodded and looked at the building one last time, then he left without another word.

Marko sighed and shrugged, then he looked annoyed at Laddie. "Edgar Frog, what a pleasure!" Laddie laughed. "I understand exactly what you mean," he replied. "But that's just David, if he wants something, he will not give up until he gets what he wants, as he has always been, terrifying me when I was a kid!"

"Yes, I know," replied Marko. "He's worried about the kid, that's understandable, but Edgar almost killed me, so I'd love to tear him to pieces!" Laddie looked at Marko sadly. "You know," he said as he sat on his motorcycle. "Back then, that was the worst day and the worst night in my life!" Marko nodded. "Yes, for us too," he answered. "Our life suddenly turned out completely different, was not always so easy!"

When Marko and Laddie arrived at the arcades where the Frog's business was, David waited impatiently. "Why did it take you so long?" He asked irritably, throwing away the meanwhile third cigarette he had smoked in the meantime.

Marko watched as his buddy throw the butt to the ground. "David, patient as ever," he countered also irritably. David looked at Marko with raised eyebrows but said nothing more. Marko made a face, turned and walked toward the entrance to the store.

He put his hand on the door handle but hesitated before opening the door. Through the door, he could see the cash register area. There was a man, and the camouflage clothing he wore told Marko that had to be Edgar. He did not wear cast anymore, but he hobbled around in the cashier's area, then opened a thick file folder. His crutches leaned against a wall behind the counter.

Marko instinctively took his free hand to the spot where Edgar had staked him all those years ago. That event had hurt Marko in his pride, damn it, Edgar and Alan were kids when they attacked the Lost Boys! The vampires had not taken the two boys seriously at the time, even though they knew that Edgar and Alan were trained as vampire hunters. "When the boys grow up, we'll take care of them," Max had always said. The brothers were not even able to defend themselves against the Surf Nazis, so they were certainly no threat to the vampires.

Well, the truth looked quite different! Edgar and Alan were still kids at the time, but still, they managed to fool five adult vampires! David, Dwayne, Marko, and Paul totally underestimated those kids, and that was the sad end of the Lost Boys!

David stopped behind Marko and watched as he watched Edgar. The tall blond guy shook his head indignantly at his friend's childish behavior, then put his hand over Markos and pushed the door open. With a determined expression, David passed the startled Marko, who had almost lost his balance. Marko stumbled, but caught himself again and glared after David, who was walking towards Edgar without hesitation.

Laddie stopped beside Marko for a moment and of course, could not resist grinning. "Asshole," Marko mumbled and walked slowly past Laddie to the counter. Edgar was engrossed in the cash report from Kim, an employee, and had not noticed anyone entering the store. He had already checked everything three times, but something was wrong!

"Hello Edgar, long time not seen," greeted David. Now Edgar looked up from the papers and looked in astonishment at the three men standing in front of the counter. He looked David up and down, then looked into his dead face. "Should I know you," he finally asked not exactly friendly.

"I'm very sure you remember us, Edgar," David answered just as rudely and peered dismissively at the man. Marko stood up in front of Edgar and wordlessly, without lowering his eyes, pulled his shirt up so that Edgar could see the scar left by the attack.

Edgar looked at the scar in disbelief, then at Marko's face, and then he looked at David. "That is not possible," muttered Edgar. "We killed you!"

"Are we looking dead," David asked angrily. Laddie had meanwhile looked around the back and came back now. "There is nobody here except him," he reported.

Marko nodded, pulled his shirt back down and walked to the door to turn the sign that hung there from "open" to "closed". David walked around the counter toward Edgar, who backed away from him, and spotted a keyring lying beside the cash register. Edgar followed David's look and reached for the keys, but David was faster.

"Edgar, Edgar, Edgar," David grinned wickedly and threw the keys to Marko, who caught them with one hand and after a few tries finally found the right key to lock the door. David looked back at Edgar from the locked door.

"Well, now we can talk undisturbed," he remarked with a sarcastic undertone and pointed to the door that led to the back area. "Would you be so nice and take the lead," David said with a smile that did not reach his eyes and watched in amusement as Edgar hobbled backward with anger in his eyes.

David looked at Marko and Laddie seriously, then followed they followed Edgar. When the men entered the back room, they were greeted by a load of holy water of Edgar's pink toy pistol.

Quick as lightning Marko rushed past David and defeated Edgar the gun from his hand. He caught the pink toy before it crashed to the ground and threw it out of the room. David grabbed Edgar angrily with both hands on the collar of his jacket and pulled him close. "Listen Asshole," spat David. "I'm no longer a vampire, but I can still kick your ass!" Then he pushed the stunned Edgar in a chair that stood behind him.

David looked at his opponent in hatred and found that he looked pretty intimidated. The former vampire grinned satisfied, then he was serious again. He put his hands on the armrests of Edgar's chair so that his face was only a few inches from Edgars. "Okay, Edgar, where is the kid," he asked.

Marko stood beside David grinning mischievously as he nibbled at his thumbnail. Laddie had picked up the gun and looked at it, then he shook his head and watched what was happening in the room. Laddie almost felt sorry for Edgar, but only almost; Laddie had not forgotten that the vampire hunter was responsible for the misery Laddie had to endure as a small boy.

"Where do you hide her," David asked threateningly. Edgar looked at David uncomprehendingly. He had no idea who David was talking about. "Which kid," he finally stuttered uncertainly. "Hope Jones, the social worker with whom Michael Emerson works," Marko replied.

"How should I know where she is," Edgar answered, pissed off. "I do not even know where Michael is, everyone is looking for him, but maybe you've let Michael disappear!"

David wanted to punch Edgar, but Marko held him back. "I think he really has no idea, he seemed totally surprised when you asked him," explained Marko. David looked at Marko seriously, then stared at Edgar. He grabbed the vampire hunter by the collar again and pulled him up. "If I find out you've lied to me, I'll come back, sure," he whispered threateningly, then he turned and left the shop.

At the arcades, he rammed his cigarettes out of his pocket, lit one and threw the box at Marko. "What now?" Laddie asked full of energy, but David and Marko shrugged their shoulders helplessly.

"What the hell," David mocked as the men returned to their motorcycles. On the handlebar under the brake of David's motorcycle stuck a note. David took it annoyed and unfolded it, then he turned white. 'Hudson's bluff, we're waiting for you' someone had scribbled on the paper. David handed Marko the note. "I only know one person who has such terrible handwriting," said Marko dryly as he regained his composure.

Laddie looked at his friend in surprise. "What's up," he wanted to know. David grinned. "Are you coming home," he just asked, then got on his bike and drove off.


	20. First Kill

Chapter 20. First Kill

A new night broke in the hiding place of the vampires, and a night later David was to find the message on his motorcycle!

Dwayne had been sitting cross-legged for some time under the iron bar he and Paul slept during the day. He waited for his friend to wake up because he had something important to tell him! Dwayne did not want Sam and Hope to hear about the conversation yet.

The dark-haired vampire was a bit irritated because he heard Sam raging furiously in his prison; the younger vampire was hungry and finally wanted to be let out!

Paul and Dwayne had been restless and excited for a few nights since they knew David and Marko were in town, and it was quite exhausting to look after the two new members of their pack.

The two older vampires had been traveling alone for more than twenty years, but now they were in charge of Sam and Hope. Although Sam was a full-grown vampire, he still had much to learn about life in packs, and besides, Dwayne was not sure he could really trust him.

If Sam would have something stupid in store, Hope would be his first victim, because as a half-vampire, she was the weakest of them. Besides, her mother was guilty of the situation that Sam and especially Michael had come across.

Well, Star, Dwayne had liked the girl before she betrayed the vampires. She was friendly and had a tender heart, but a life in the circle of vampires, unthinkable! It was amazing how long she had resisted the thirst for blood.

Marko kept trying to remind David that Star did not fit into the pack, but David did not want to hear about it. He wanted the girl by his side, and whether it was about affection or just possession, Dwayne had never understood.

Probably it would have been better if David had just killed Star after the first night, but the Lost Boys' leader just could not handle that at the time. Outwardly David looked aloof and cold, you had to know him well to know that he was not like that. His aloofness and arrogance were very important to him at the time to keep people away. Only then could they keep the secret of their existence.

Dwayne really hoped Hope would not behave like her mother. After all, the young woman had been fighting her thirst for blood all her life, she even had thoughts of suicide - secretly she was simply desperate for peace with herself and for a family in which she did not have to pretend to be someone she wasn't. Well, Hope had fought the bloodthirst all her life, but she did not know her background, and always thought something was wrong with her. 

At last Paul woke up and watched Dwayne, sitting dull and brooding on the cold floor under Paul. The tall blonde Vampir heard Sam banging on the door of his dungeon - he finally wanted to go out!

Paul sighed and with an elegant role in the air he landed and stopped in front of Dwayne, grinning. "What are you doing," Paul asked.

Dwayne looked at him thoughtfully. It was funny how time had changed the two vampires. When they were still with David and Marko, Paul had always been the carefree joker of the troupe, and sometimes he behaved like a little stupid boy. Paul was intelligent, no question, but he also had the talent to hide his intelligence well.

But the events in the home of Michael's family all those years ago had made this blond clown grow up. Whenever it came down to it, Paul had unhesitatingly taken responsibility for both vampires and taking care of Dwayne when he did not know who he was. The brunette vampire was grateful that he had no more problems with his memory since they returned to Santa Carla.

Paul could be very cruel to his victims when they bugged him, but on the other hand, he was very good-natured. Paul loved little Hope like his own daughter and he tried to accept Sam, despite what had happened back then.

"I wanted to discuss something with you, sleepyhead," Dwayne said smiling and got up. Paul nodded. "What's the matter," he asked. Dwayne looked thoughtfully at the floor, then met his buddy's eyes. "I want our little butterfly to find its first victim tonight," he explained. "It's time she finally becomes one of us!"

Paul thought for a moment. "Okay, that sounds good," he replied. "And then we can finally visit David, Marko, and Laddie! It drives me crazy that I can not talk to them, I want us all together again!"

Dwayne smiled again. "I know," he said. "I feel the same way, I would like them with us again, but I think it would be better if we invited them here, because there are neighbors at the campsite, at The Bluff it would only be us, and besides, I know for a fact that David understood has that we are no longer in our graves, he is not stupid, you could never fool him!"

Paul grinned. "Yeah," he replied. "And I also know that big daddy is looking for his little girl! He'll be very surprised when he finds out she's been home with us long since, where she belongs! We'll celebrate that reunion duly, I hope ?"

Dwayne smiled again. "Oh yes, we sure do," he said. Paul and Dwayne put on their socks and boots and started to wake up Hope.

Hope, however, was no longer in her bed. She had been awake for some time, awakened by the noise Sam had made in his prison. She was a little scared of this unpredictable vampire and had seen the hatred in his eyes when he looked at her, but still; now she felt sorry.

She was terrified of being locked up in one of those dark rooms that were in the back of the cave. Hope figured she could come closer to Sam if she helped him now, maybe the hatred he obviously felt for her would then disappear from his eyes.

So she grabbed the flashlight Paul had given her and stalked through the dark tunnels to find out in which room Sam was. She really hoped to win his trust if she freed him now!

Paul and Dwayne might not approve of that, but they both wanted all four to live together like a family, so it would be good if Hope and Sam could make friends! Actually, Hope did not need to try to find the angry vampire, she just followed the noise.

And actually, she did not need a flashlight to see anything, because since she had drunk the blood from her sires, her senses were sharper and she could see well in the dark. She could see so well that neither her glasses nor contact lenses needed to be worn.

It was overwhelming what she could hear and see all at once, but the fact that she could sometimes hear the thoughts of her sires frightened her a little!

But still, she did not quite trust her sharpened senses, and besides, it was good to have something to hold on to - and, the heavy flashlight could serve as a weapon, if necessary!

She stood hesitantly in front of Sam's door, and when she reached out to unlock the door, two things happened.

The first was that it suddenly was dead quiet in the room, then she heard Sam laugh softly. He'd sniffed the air, knowing that Hope and not one of the two vampires were standing outside the door, he also knew that Dwayne would be mad at the kid if she let him out of the room and gloating filled him.

The second was that Hope heard Dwayne's voice in her mind. 'Do not you dare to open the door!' Dwayne's voice did not sound very friendly!

Hope got scared now and was not sure if she should obey Dwayne or not. Then she held out her hand again, which she had pulled back in shock.

But before she managed to touch the key, someone suddenly stood behind her and held her hand.

"What are you doing," Paul mocked. Hope looked at him startled, he looked pretty angry, his pupils were yellow and she could see his catches.

"I just wanted to," she stuttered anxiously, but Paul interrupted her. "What did you want," he spat. "What do you think, why we take Sam here every morning, girl?"

Hope just shrugged and looked at the floor, embarrassed. Paul shook his head, but he did not look so angry anymore and smiled. "Well, that will be done tonight anyway," he murmured, then he pushed Hope behind him and let Sam out of the room.

"I think you have to clean up here," Paul remarked dryly to Sam. Sam had done a great job, his shelves were on the floor, and beneath them were some objects that Sam had gathered together over the past few nights. Sam's clothes were scattered all over the room too, there was total chaos in the room.

Sam stopped in front of Paul with a grin for a moment, then smiled at Hope. "Good evening princess, nice that you wanted to help me," he said, then he rushed past Paul and Hope and disappeared into the tunnels.

Dwayne was waiting for Paul and Hope, but said nothing at first, just looking at the young woman disapprovingly. Then he turned to Paul. "Okay, you're going to feed with Sam," he said after a while, "and I'm talking to her!"

Paul just nodded and left the cave with Sam.

"I hope you realize that it was a stupid idea to let Sam out of the room without Paul or I being there," Dwayne said after staring at Hope in silence for a while. Hope shrugged indifferently, it was annoying that the vampires kept telling her what to do.

Dwayne read that thought to the young woman and shook his head blankly - sometimes half-vampires were really stupid.

"Look, girl," he nagged. "Sam may seem harmless to you, but he is not at all! You saw what he did to his room, what do you think he can do to you?"

Hope nodded annoyed. "I felt sorry for him," she said firmly. Dwayne looked her in the eye. "Sam has been on his own for many years, it can make a vampire mad, he has to learn to adapt and accept rules, to live in a community with other vampires is something completely new to him, if he wanted, he would kill you without batting an eyelash, so we put him in confinement to protect you! " Hope was not stupid, she knew Dwayne was right. "I'm sorry," she finally said, ashamed. "I will not do it again!"

Dwayne smiled. "No, you certainly won't, because today, a lot will change here," he replied. Hope gave him a startled look, fearing that Paul and Dwayne were planning to lock her up. "What do you mean," she asked anxiously.

Dwayne read her thoughts and grinned. "Do not worry, when this night is over there will be no need to lock anyone up," he explained. "Today is your big night, you will finally become a real vampire!"

"But," Hope complained, but the vampire did not let her finish.

"We do not care if you like it or not," he interrupted her determinedly. "You're going to find your first victim tonight, you do not have to be scared, we'll be there to help you! Believe me, you'll feel like you've been born again, and when we finally get that done, Sam will be no danger for you any longer!"

Hope did not like the idea at all, but what could she do against the three vampires? In addition, the thirst for blood became worse since she drank the blood of the vampires.

The young woman looked at Dwayne desperately. "I don't know if I can do that," she said sadly. "I'm scared of it!"

Dwayne smiled and took her hands in his and pressed a kiss on the backs of her hands. "I said you do not have to be scared," he replied. "You'll see, when you smell the blood, just follow your instincts, the rest will happen by itself!"

"And what will happen to me then?" Questioned Hope. "I do not want to be a bloodthirsty monster!" The vampire smiled again. "You will not," he replied. "You're still going to be our Hope, your senses and emotions are getting stronger, and you'll have to feed, but apart from that, you always stay you, I promise, and believe me, there are enough very vicious people in this city. When you feed on them, you do mankind a great favor! " Hope looked doubtfully at her sire. "Honestly, I do not know if I can see it that way," she said stubbornly.

Dwayne grimaced. "How you see it does not really matter," he explained. "You will kill your first victim tonight, and once you have done that you will see that I am right!"

Hope sighed and sat thoughtfully on the sofa. She thought back to the moment when she had come down on Paul after he had returned from the hunt. Secretly, the young woman knew that Dwayne was correct in his assumption, but she still felt guilty!

She wanted to live on the other side, she no longer had suicidal thoughts, and she liked Paul and Dwayne. She had long since realized that the vampires were much more than thoughtless killing machines. And Sam - well, she would arrange with him!

As Hope stared thoughtfully, the vampire had taken his book and started to read. However, he did not make many pages because Paul and Sam came back. Paul had informed Sam that Hope should finally become a full member of the family. Sam was glad that he would not be locked up any more, but instead would sleep with the three other vampires on the iron bars, as befitted a vampire, and finally he would have a family again, he was glad that he was not completely on his own any longer!

It was Sam who made Paul aware of the victims of tonight, he had been watching the three men for quite a while, and a vampire or not, what these three guys did was just disgusting!

"We now know where the party will happen tonight," Paul exclaimed happily, as he flew into the cave with Sam. Hope looked questioningly at him and Dwayne raised his eyebrows. Sam walked over to Hope with a smile and sat next to her.

"You do not have to have a guilty conscience if you kill one of these guys," he explained. "Why," Hope asked with interest, but also doubtfully.

"Well, these bastards kidnap very young girls, mostly runaways that nobody misses," he said. "The girls are then sold to perverted old sacks, which abuse and rape them, the younger the girls, the better!"

Hope looked at the three vampires. "That's disgusting," she finally said. Paul smiled. "Well, kid, believe me, there are worse monsters out there than we are," he told Hope. Dwayne and Sam nodded in agreement.

Then Sam tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. "But the story goes on," he continued. "I've always wondered what would become of the girls when they became useless to the guys, I've been watching the hustle and bustle of those guys for months and wondered why the deals always run just after the full moon." Hope looked at Sam irritated. "What had young girls to do with the full moon, she asked.

Paul laughed once. "That, little butterfly, you'll never consider," he explained. "Sam showed me what happens to the poor things and that's incredible even to us!"

Sam nodded. "As I said, the deal with the girls always runs just after the full moon, and that was the day before yesterday, the girl traders are cooperating with the mayor and his lotions, these people look like humans, but they are werewolves!

Hope choked on her beer. "There are no werewolves," she remarked with complete conviction. The three vampires laughed out loud. "You have no idea," said Dwayne. "It gives us, why should not there be assholes smelling of wet dog, they do not like us much, because we're stronger than them! There's a lot in this city that you would not think was possible, but you will you soon realize yourself!"

"Well, anyway," Sam continued. "The traders grab the girls and promise them all kinds of things - as long as the girls are in the dealers' house they are doing well, they get everything they ask for, clothes, jewelry, good food. This time the two younger girls are only twelve years old."

Hope gasped in horror. "That's really weird," she exclaimed indignantly Sam nodded. "Yes, I know, the girls trust that bastard and in the end, the kids are sent to hell. Last month I watched three guys share a thirteen-year-old. I don't even want to tell you the details. I wanted to know what happens to the girls when the assholes are done with them, that's why I did not kill the guys right away! To make a long story short, at this point the werewolves are coming in. The men put the totally distraught girls out in the forest at full moon, where they are then helplessly at the mercy of the werewolves, who eat the girls and thus leave no trace. No one would ever come to the girl traders or the perverted sacks, as there is no evidence. The girls are just gone, and the Werewolves make sure that the police will not look too hard. More than thirty years ago, when I moved here with my mother and brother, the board in town was full of pictures of missing children. We always thought the guys here were responsible, but that was a mistake!"

Hope had tears in her eyes, she had seen many bad things in her career, but what Sam had said surpassed everything!

Dwayne looked at Hope very seriously. "You know, we may be monsters on the one hand, but we would always protect children, no one should attack them," he said. "Do you still have a guilty conscience now?"

Hope shook her head. "I would never have thought such a cruel thing possible, how sick do you have to be," she asked sadly. "What happens to the girls when the men are dead?"

Paul smiled. "Do not worry, little butterfly," he replied. "No hair is being bent on them, Sam already knows how to take the children away, just let yourself be surprised!"

Hope looked tensely at the ground. "Okay, let's just go and get those assholes done," she said determinedly, jumping up from the sofa and heading for the exit of the cave.

The three vampires looked at each other in surprise and Dwayne sighed in relief, then they followed the young woman. Hope stopped in front of the cave and looked questioningly at the vampires.

"How do we get there," she wanted to know. The three vampires grinned. "Well, what do you think," questioned Paul. "How did we get into the cave when we brought you here?"

"I, I" stammered Hope, "I can not fly!" The vampires laughed. "We're pretty sure you can, but don't be scared," Dwayne explained. "I'll carry you and I will not let you down again, I promise," he said with a laugh at the thought of Hope's reaction the last time he had carried her through the air. "When this night is over, you can do it all by yourself, you'll see," said Paul. "And there will be a big surprise next night, you'll be very happy about that, I'm sure."

Hope smiled at him. "A surprise," she asked. "What will it be?" "Wouldn't be a surprise, if we would tell you now," Dwayne answered grinning. "But Paul is right, you'll love it!" Then he grabbed Hope and went airbound. This time Hope enjoyed it.

The girl traders owned a house outside the city, the nearest neighbor lived so far away that it would take half an hour to reach it. The house of the Morgan brothers and the property looked very well maintained. In the driveway was a modern VW bus with dark-tinted windows, and a BMW, which was a bit older.

The Morgan brothers had inherited the blue-painted house from their parents who had died in a car accident several years ago. Duncan was the youngest of the three brothers at forty-one. He was the only one with a good school diploma. As a young man, he had begun studying for a teaching post, but he had given up after a motorcycle accident. He suffered from back problems since the accident, so he lost his job again and again.

His brothers Leslie and Rick, who were forty-five and forty-seven years old, had done miserably at school. Honest work was a foreign word for the two, they preferred the money that their parents gave them to gamble and drink.

None of the three brothers had ever married, which had weighed heavily on Lydia and Henry Morgen, the brothers' parents. They had been diligent and honorable businessmen with a successful food chain. Lydia and Henry were very involved in the city and had donated large sums of their fortune for various projects to help homeless people and seriously ill children.

The two older sons were a big disappointment to the couple, and the youngest was a loser. But since the couple felt responsible and loved their sons despite everything, they always helped the men out with money.

But after the accident, in which the parents died, the money was quickly used up and the three men were close to losing their home. In this situation, the mayor, who was the leader of the werewolf pack, suggested the three men to this dirty business.

The older brothers had no problems with that, why should a few dirty runaways not serve them to get a lot of money. Duncan did not want to join, but his brothers put pressure on him and eventually he gave in.

Duncan felt sorry for the girls who Leslie and Rick took into their dirty game, so he made sure they did not miss anything as long as the girls stayed at the home of the Morgan brothers.

Duncan fulfilled almost every wish of the children, he was happy when they were happy. He liked children and would have liked to have them, but since his accident, that was unfortunately no longer possible.

Duncan had been thinking for some time how to stop the crimes against the girls or how he could at least get out himself, but he knew his brothers would never let him go because, without Duncan, the girls would never take confidence.

He had already thought of a police report, but some of the officers were in the deals themselves because they were corrupt. And to be honest, he was stuck in himself, and he did not want to die yet.

The deals were always done the same way. The girls were taken to the brothers' house by Rick and Leslie, where they met Duncan, who took care of the children and stayed a few days. Then the girls were taken to a warehouse that the Morgan Brothers had rented especially for this business. There they were inspected by the customers and then taken away. The clients were mostly elderly married, bored men. The girls were grossly abused and maltreated for two to three weeks.

Then Leslie and Rick picked up the girls and put them out in the woods at full moon, where the children were then food for the terrible beasts.

Duncan knew that someday he was going to burn in hell for his actions, and he knew he deserved it, too. If only he remembered that the girls who would be sold that night were only twelve and fourteen years old, he felt sick.

Amy and Amanda had been friends since kindergarten and came from a good parent's home, but for some time, 12-year-old Amy's father was unemployed, and occasionally tended to outrage the girl.

Now Amy had received a very poor mark in a mathematics assignment and did not dare to go home. When the girl told her friend that she wanted to run away, she just came along. The two girls thought the whole thing was a great adventure and felt really grown up. They were not aware that they were in danger.

For the evening, Duncan had promised the two girls a trip to the city, saying he had to go to the brothers' warehouses to get something, and then drive to the Boardwalk with the girls.

Willingly and eagerly, Amy and Amanda sat in the backseat of the VW Bus. Their parents never allowed the two girls to be outside so late. The two children were very naive and trusted Duncan.

Rick and Leslie were not so nice to the girls, but Duncan acted like a big brother to them and the girls enjoyed that attention. "Amy, Amanda, you can go in," Duncan said as the three arrived at the warehouse. "There's Coke for you inside, in the little room at the end of the hall, you can not miss it, I'll park the car and then get there!"

Rick and Leslie were already in the room, handing bottles already opened to the girls. Drugs were in the bottles, of course, the girls did not know and drank. Even before Duncan entered the room, the girls had fallen asleep and the two older brothers started to prepare the girls for the two customers.

No one noticed the three vampires and Hope were hiding in the shadows outside the hall, watching closely. Dwayne, Paul, and Sam had agreed that they would not go to the hall until after the men who wanted to buy the girls arrived.

The Morgan brothers were expecting two men to come to town from San Francisco. As the men entered the hall, the girls were already tied up on chairs made for them and undressed except for the underwear.

That way the men could see that they bought "flawless goods", without bruising or other injuries. Dwayne had to reassure Hope that the vampires were not threatening the girls, but the moment the Morgan Brothers' customers entered the hall, the three vampires could barely keep her from rushing into the hall. Hope was worried about the kids and she was hungry as well.

"Hope, you stay with Paul and me," Dwayne ordered, looking rather serious. "And you do what we tell you, understand?" The young woman nodded impatiently and started to charge again, but Dwayne held her back.

"We're quiet in the hall like the mice, we go in and kill the bastards, and then you leave with Paul," he explained. "And the girls," Hope asked annoyed. Dwayne was getting impatient. "Okay, look, Sam's gonna make sure the girls get out of here," he replied. "And Paul takes care of you, I'll take care of the fucking hall!"

"What do you mean," Hope asked. Paul grinned. "We can not leave any traces," he explained. "So far no one knows that we're back in town, and that should stay that way for now!"

Hope nodded understandingly. "And why is Dwayne doing it all by himself," she asked with interest. "If we do it together, it's faster!" Then Sam grinned and shook his head.

Paul put his hands on Hope's shoulders. "You're going to drink human blood for the first time tonight," he explained. "You'll feel intoxicated and unable to help Dwayne, but I'm with you and take care of you, so you do not have to be scared!"

"Okay," said Hope just disappointed. Dwayne looked at the other three. "Can we finally get in there now," he asked impatiently. "I want to get that over with now!"

The brunette vampire took Hope's hand and led her to the hall. The four moved silently through the hall toward the closed door at the other end. 'Ready,' Hope heard Dwayne's voice ask in her mind. At the same moment, Amy and Amanda had woke up again.

The girls realized their predicament and started screaming. Sam, Paul, and Hope nodded to Dwayne. "Shut up, you sluts," Leslie roared in the room at the frightened girls.

Paul pushed Hope behind him and Dwayne positioned himself next to the door and nodded to Sam, who now quietly opened the door. The men in the room were busy quieting the screaming girls, and no one but Duncan saw Sam enter the room.

The man turned white as he saw Sam's yellow-hot eyes and his catches. Duncan said nothing, he sank to his knees and began to pray again and again the "The Lords prayer". The Morgan- brothers had nothing to do with God or the church, and that was the only prayer Duncan could remember.

Sam growled loudly and his catches flashed in the light. Thereupon it became so quiet in the room, one could have heard a pin fall down. "Am I interrupting," he only asked, leaping at the four men standing around the girls.

Paul opened the door completely and showed Hope into the room. Hope was so shocked by the sight of the girls that she forgot for what reason the vampires had brought her to this place.

She pushed one of the men aside and immediately began to free the girls from their shackles. Amanda and Amy started screaming again, which brought Duncan to his feet.

For a moment he forgot the monstrous face of Sam and wanted to protect the girls. He lunged for Hope and tried to pull her away from the children. Meanwhile, Sam had thrown one of the men over to Paul, and the vampire killed the man without further ado.

Dwayne had two of the men in an iron grip and dragged them into another room. Hope looked furiously at the floor, and when she looked back at Duncan, her face had changed as well. She stared at him and growled angrily.

As Dwayne entered the room, bloodied, Hope lunged at Duncan and bit into his neck. Amy was now released from the shackles and was crying to free Amanda, her hands trembled. "Shit," Sam shouted when he saw that Hope had just caught Duncan. He broke Rick's foot to immobilize the man and threw him to the ground.

"Hope, no, we still need him," Sam shouted, pulling the growling and beating Hope away from Duncan. Paul grabbed Hope and left the room with her. Duncan had dropped to his knees again and pressed a hand to his bleeding wound.

Amy and Amanda looked at him in horror and started screaming again. Hope was held by Paul with an iron grip. She hissed and growled, trying to kick and punch the sheer vampire, but Paul was much stronger than she was. Hope had licked her blood now, she was hungry and damn angry, she could hardly be restrained.

In the second room of the hall, Paul dropped the young woman next to the man Dwayne had left for her. "He's yours," he said, watching with amusement as Hope lunged at the man nearly twice her size.

She drained him to the last drop, and when she was done, her face was smeared with his blood. She looked up at Paul, he helped her to her feet and licked the blood from her face and neck with relish.

Hope realized what she had done and started to shiver. Paul laughed. "I'm proud of you," he said.

In the other room, Sam had pinched Duncan, while Dwayne tried to calm the girls and helped them dress.

"Today is your lucky day, asshole," Sam said to the completely distraught man. "I've watched you for a few months, so I know you've always treated the girls well, that's why you will not share the fate of your brothers."

Duncan was shaking all over and still, could not believe what he had just seen. Sam pulled him up and put him on the chair Amy had been sitting on before. "You will make sure that the girls return to their parents, and should I ever see you even approach any young girls, I'll come back, get it?"

Then he grabbed Rick and dragged the man whimpering in pain into the other room. Dwayne erased the memories of the night's events from the girls' thoughts, then turned to Duncan.

"The girls will not remember anything when they wake up tomorrow morning, and now you go before we change our minds! And never forget what Sam just told you!"

Duncan did not need to be told twice and shoved the girls to the VW bus. As Dwayne left the room, Hope behaved as if she were totally drunk, but that was what the three vampires had expected. The young woman danced through the dark warehouse, giggling. The three male vampires watched her with a grin, after a while she ran outside.

"Where is the stuff I need," Dwayne asked Paul and Sam. "All you need is in the back of the little room" Paul answered, then he followed Hope outside. She danced there for a few minutes and sang again and again: "Life is beautiful."

When she noticed Paul, she ran to him and dropped humming into his arms. Then she just fell asleep. "Well, that went fast," Paul murmured amused.

He took the fledgling into his arms and flew back to the cave. There he put Hope on a sofa and waited for Dwayne and Sam.

Today, at sunrise, all four vampires would sleep upside down on the iron bar, as a pack.

The next morning, the daily newspaper said that the Morgan brothers' warehouse had burned to the ground.


	21. Old friends – finally home!

When David drove off in the direction of the sunken hotel, he was totally happy, for the first time in a very long time. For the past thirty years, he and Marko were convinced that Paul and Dwayne were resting in their graves! David and Marko were convinced that they would never see their brothers again!

If David was honest, he had to admit that he had never overcome the loss of the two, and he knew Marko was the same. Even Laddie, who was a small boy back then, missed the vampires, especially Dwayne.

David fumbled in his jacket pocket for the note he had found attached to his motorcycle and smiled, the note had definitely written Paul, he was sure. Nobody had creepy handwriting, like Paul. Sure it was because the big blonde vampire was raised as a child to right-handed, actually, Paul was left-handed!

However, by the time the four vampires had lived together in the cave, it had also become apparent that through this re-education Paul had not only disadvantages, such as spidery handwriting, but he was also in many ways very skilled with both hands.

David was really happy that Paul and Dwayne were somehow alive again, but now David was standing at a red light and let his mind run wild, making a weird feeling. Dwayne and Paul were finally vampires, he, Marko and Laddie were not. This meant that even if they were in the majority, they would be totally inferior physically and mentally; besides, Marko and David were more than fifty years old, so they were not in good health.

The men never talked about it, but that was the truth; The many years they had lived as vampires had left their mark. David was suddenly not so sure if the two vampires were well-disposed to him and Marko, maybe the two of them hated David and Marko for being human.

Suddenly a female voice ripped him from his gloomy thoughts. 'Well, just what I need now,' David thought annoyed when he recognized Star.

He hoped that the traffic lights would finally turn green so he could drive away, but the stupid traffic light didn't do him the favor. "David," said Star completely out of breath as she reached David and stood in front of his motorcycle. She put her hands on the handlebars and looked at David uncertainly.

"Do you have news about Hope," she asked. Of course, Star knew that David was mad at her and wanted nothing to do with her, but she would not give up that fast! If someone would be able to find Hope it was David because if this man had something in mind, he would not give up until he got it! That's how David has always been!

David just looked at her, but he did not answer. So the woman repeated her question. That made David really angry. "If you had not abandoned our child at the time, we would not have to look for her now," he finally replied snappily. "But what am I so upset about, such behavior is typical for you!"

Star looked desperately into his eyes. "I know myself that I made many mistakes in the past," she whispered. "You do not need to remind me every time we meet! I've paid dearly for it, with a life of constant fear! I want that to stop! And let alone that, I'm not the only one here who made mistakes! What about you, if you had not tried to force me into this life back then none of this would have happened!"

David wanted to say something, but suddenly he had a better idea. He grinned at Star. "Let's leave that now, I'm on my way to see our daughter," he replied. "You can come if you want," he offered.

Then he held out his hand to help her onto the machine, just as he used to do. Star looked dumbfounded at David, then smiled. "Gladly, thank you," she replied, getting on the bike. David saw his friends approaching in the rearview mirror, he pushed the gas and drove on.

Marko looked in disbelief at David as he saw who had just climbed onto his motorcycle and shook his head blankly. "Some things never change," he muttered, glancing over at Laddie.

He looked puzzled at Marko. "Who was the woman," he asked. "Star," replied Marko annoyed. "I can not believe he takes her to meet Paul and Dwayne!" Laddie looked at Marko in surprise. "That was Star," he asked.

Marko just nodded and looked grimly at the traffic light. "Well, then the family is complete again," Laddie remarked dryly.

Both men realized that David had not let the woman out of good nature on his machine, but neither could explain what David was up to. But that was nothing new, David had always been a complicated person and never easy to see through, but that he just took this woman to the sunken hotel!

Suddenly Marko grinned and started to laugh. "Hey, he sure did not tell her where he is going," he shouted to Laddie. "She will be surprised!" Laddie just smiled.

Nobody noticed that they were being watched. Edgar was hiding behind some bushes, he had not heard what the former vampire and Star had talked about, but he felt the whole situation was suspicious. When he saw Marko and Laddie, who finally drove after David - just like in the old days, he knew that something was wrong.

He took his smartphone out of his pocket and called his father, and they decided to meet at the sunken hotel. He had learned from the conversation between Marko and Laddie that the three motorcyclists were on their way there.

He went to his rental car and headed for Hudson's bluff. Edgar planned to park the small car in a forest track and walk the rest of the way, that would be tedious, as his foot still ached, but something bad happened there, and Edgar wanted to know what was going on! He was also prepared, just in case! His backpack with some weapons was always in the car, his father would bring more.

Markus Frog has seen many crazy things in his life! He knew exactly that werewolves and vampires existed! But what his eldest son had just told him over the phone really exceeded everything and it left much to be doubted about what he had believed so far!

Edgar was sure that two of the vampires he and his brother had killed more than thirty years ago were still alive. These two were no longer vampires, unbelievable.

The young woman and the little boy, who was of course now a grown man, who belonged to this motorcycle gang back then, were also back in town! Edgar was sure the four were on their way to the sunken hotel, where even then when they were still vampires or half-vampires, was their hiding place.

It was frightening when his sons realized then that these four young men were vampires. The four behaved strangely at times, but to him and his sons, the vampires were always friendly.

The smallest of the four had often bought some comics in Markus' store and defended his sons against the Surf Nazis. The guy also seemed interested in Chelly, Markus niece. Markus had seen the couple together a few times, the vampire had always treated the girl well, even though she was a werewolf, just like her father, Markus brother in law.

But Chelly eventually was with Greg, the leader of the Surf Nazis, which Markus Frog had never understood. Greg and his gang were useless young people who had nothing better to do than cause trouble. Greg did not treat Chelly very well. One day the Surf Nazis disappeared, as did Chelly.

Nobody could explain what happened to them. Sure, there were always people disappearing in Santa Carla, but this gang was a big group. So many people had never disappeared at once!

Edgar had asked his father to meet him at the sunken hotel, he wanted to know what was going on there! It was too risky for Edgar to go there alone, and since Alan had become a half-vampire, Edgar hunted alone.

Edgar and Markus only had contact with Alan over the phone. The half-vampire kept away from humans, he knew that his brother did everything humanly possible to find and kill the vampire who had turned Alan so that Alan could become human again and return to his family.

So Markus packed his weapons in his truck and drove off to meet his son, the man had nothing left to lose, his wife was seriously ill some years ago and finally died!

David did not stop until he reached the sunken hotel. Star recognized where David was actually going after just a few minutes and became frightened. She could not explain what he wanted up there on the cliffs, and most of all she could not explain why he had taken her!

The woman wanted to get off the bike, but David just drove, he did not care that he drove over red lights and that he ignored right of way from the driving public. Star slapped his back and yelled at him to stop, but David continued until he reached his destination.

When David finally stopped, Star jumped angrily from his motorcycle. "Damn it, David, have you lost it now," she yelled at him. David just grinned, slowly got off his bike and pulled off his helmet. "You could have killed both of us, and anyway, what do you want up here, you said you're on your way to Hope!"

David now had his characteristic grin on his lips. "We have an appointment here," he finally answered. Star again had tears running down her face. "Appointment? Here? With whom? You said .."

"I know what I said," David interrupted her annoyed. We lied here, let you surprise, you'll like it! " Star just looked at him, he had that typical grin on his lips, and she knew from the past that it was not a good sign. He was no longer a vampire, but he had not completely lost his cunning!

David and Star turned around as they heard the motorcycles of Marko and Laddie, who had arrived at the cliffs. Star looked from one of the men to the other and watched them pull off their helmets. "Is that really you, Laddie," she finally asked with tears in her eyes.

Laddie smiled and nodded. She went to him and hugged him, tears running down her face. "I am so happy to see you," Star stated. "How are you doing, you look good." Laddie looked down, then looked at her earnestly after releasing himself from her embrace.

"Well, it was quite difficult for me," he replied. "But after all, I somehow managed to lead an independent life, and I'm glad I found the two of them again, and without my four big brothers life was almost unbearable!"

Star looked at Laddie sadly. "What do you mean, are not you glad to have a second chance," she finally asked.

"Do not get me wrong," Laddie replied. "I'm grateful that you've always cared for me, and at first I was glad to be human again, but that did not last very long! I curse the night my family was taken from me, I was a little boy, I loved those four guys, that was the best family I've ever had!"

David smirked at Star, then got serious. "You see, Star, not everyone was happy about the events of that night, but the family will be reunited, just wait!" Star looked bitterly into his eyes. "I did not want any of you to die, I did not want you to get hurt, but you could not let me go!"

"You kept moaning until Michael had to act as a hero, you betrayed us and you took the boy with you," Marko spat angrily. "Do not be so innocent, because of you these children came into the cave and tried to kill me while I slept! For your sake! And where is your great Michael now, was it worth it for you to betray us?"

Star looked at him in silence. "I did not want to be like you," she finally whispered. "I saw what you were capable of, I did not want that!"

Marko shook his head. "And that's it for you," he asked angrily. Everyone else is to blame for the misery, only you of course not, let me finally sober it! I'll tell you something, if it had been up to me, you wouldn't have survived the first night in the cave, so be glad you still stand there! "

He turned around angrily and lit a cigarette. David looked from Star to Marko. Then he looked down. "What have you done to help us back then," he finally asked. "Paul left his hiding place that night because he wanted to protect you when those two freaks wanted to stake you and the boy. I still see this image in my mind these days, Paul paid for it with his life, and what did you do to help him, you have done nothing!"

"What should I have done," Star asked softly. "I was scared I was lost, but how do I expect you to understand that, only your vampires counted for you, maybe you should have rethought your plan that night, David!"

With that, she turned around to leave this place. It would take her a long time to get back to town without a car, but she did not care. She just wanted to get away from David, he never understood why she did not want this life, what did Star expect from him? However, the woman did not come far. She was almost out of sight of the three men when a figure stepped out of the shadows.

"Are you leaving us already, Star," the figure asked as she blocked her path, grinning. "I thought we would celebrate our reunion, after all these years!" Star just stood there for a few minutes staring at the figure in disbelief.

"That's not possible," she whispered. "I saw you die!" It was just hard to believe, she saw with her own eyes how all flesh was destroyed of Paul's body! She had heard his pain-filled death screams! she had seen with her own eyes that nothing but his skeleton had been there! How was it possible that he was alive in front of her now?

Paul looked grinning at the woman, then his expression became serious. "Well, girl, you've forgotten a trifle," he said, grabbing her arm slightly to lead her back to the men. "You forgot to burn us!" Star tried to free himself from his iron grip, but she failed.

"You were in the house when Michael's grandfather burned it down," she replied. David crossed his arms in satisfaction and grinned at Star. "While you had a drink in front of the house, I brought Paul and Dwayne out with Grandpa's handcart, I hid their remains and later, with Marko, I buried both of them, as it should be!"

Paul looked at him smiling. "Man, come here," he said happily, hugging David. "We are so glad you are here!" David felt a bit uncomfortable in this embrace, as he was currently on Paul and Dwayne's diet as a human. Paul did not realize that, but eventually, he released his former leader and looked him up and down.

He grabbed a strand of David's long hair. "That looks good," he remarked with a smile, then Paul turned around and smiled at Marko, who also took a few steps in Paul's direction, but suddenly stopped and looked uncertainly to the ground.

"What's up," Paul asked, laughing. "Are you afraid of me?" Marko hesitated for a moment, then grinned. "Well, you never know, I'll better be safe than sorry," he finally answered, then he went to Paul and the two fell into each other's arms.

Dwayne had been floating over the abyss for some time, watching the scene unfolding before him. Finally, Paul spotted him. "Hell, Dwayne, stop the crap and come here," the blond vampire screamed happily. Eventually, Dwayne came to the others and stopped at a distance, grinning.

"Paul, do you really want to hang out with such old people?" He asked with a laugh, then turned to Laddie. "You grew up, boy," he said, smiling. "How did you feel? I missed you!" Laddie walked up to Dwayne and looked in disbelief from one vampire to another. "I'm so glad to see you," Laddie finally answered. Dwayne opened his arms for his child and Laddie headed for Dwayne. He did not want to let go of the young man anymore.

Star had meanwhile tried to break away from the group, but of course, she did not get far. Paul shook his head and brought her back. "You can not go yet, you have a task to fulfill as you are here," he said seriously.

Star was starting to panic, these men were no longer friendly to her, and if she was honest with herself, she could not even blame them. If she had not asked Michael for help then, he would not have led the Frog brothers into the hiding place of the vampires, and none of this would have happened.

She was about to say something when a rather small figure flew out of the cave onto the cliff and landed clumsily in front of Paul on her bottom. Hope looked up at the blond vampire. "I think I'll never learn that," she said.

He started laughing and helped her to her feet. "Do not worry, little one, all of us can fly, it's in your blood," he replied. "You just have to lose the fear of it." Hope saw the strangers and looked from Dwayne to Paul in surprise.

'Who are the people,' she asked through the sire bond. Laddie, David, and Marko immediately recognized the young woman, after all, there were not so many adult women as small as she was, and with so many freckles. David realized immediately that the three communicated with each other in their minds.

"Why is she with you," he finally asked in disbelief. Dwayne smiled. "Well, big daddy," he said. "We found her and thought she was better off in our care than staying alone!" Hope looked confusedly from one to the other.

Paul put his arm around her shoulders. "Well, you know that's not true," he explained. "Actually, she found us, she showed up one night up here, we just had a party on the run, and one night later she came back here, she was probably curious, and now she's one of us. Paul led Hope to Star, who still had not figured what the men were talking about.

"Hope, may I introduce you Star, your mother," he asked with a grin. Hope glanced at Star, who was already fighting back tears, then looked up at Paul. "My mother's name is Ginger," she replied. Paul laughed. "Okay, Star, Ginger, what's the difference, this miserable creature is your mother!"

Hope looked down thoughtfully, then looked at her mother. The young woman was angry, she broke away from Paul and rushed to her mother. "Why did you do that?" She had turned into the monster that always was visible when she was angry. David saw her yellow eyes, her deformed face and her catches. He sighed, then walked over to his daughter. He put his hands on her shoulders. "Let her go, girl," he said tenderly. "She is not worth it!"

Hope turned to her father and growled at him. "Come on, girl," David said. "Do not do that!" Hope growled again and glared at him with sparkling eyes.

"Hope," Dwayne called. "Get away from her," he ordered. The young woman looked furiously at him, but finally, she released her mother and sought protection from Paul, who put his arm around her shoulders again. "Good girl," said the blond vampire. "You can not have her, she will serve another purpose, and you can not growl at your father!"

Hope looked at David, she had calmed down and her human face was visible again. Her eyes had filled with tears. "My father," she asked. Paul nodded. "Yes, that's David," he explained. "The two men over there are Marko and Laddie, we did not know exactly if the three of them would really be here tonight, so we did not tell you!"

David looked at Hope smiling and went to her. He put his hand on her cheek, then took her hand and pulled her into his arms. Paul stood by and smiled, watching them. "I was looking for you," David finally said.

He looked questioningly at Paul. He raised his hands defensively. "No, do not worry, she's like a daughter to us," he said. Hope did not understand why the vampire said that, and she did not really care, because she was happy and did not want to let her father go. David glanced over at Dwayne, who had lit a cozy campfire with Marko and Laddie. Dwayne nodded, smiling.

Star cried quietly to herself, she did not care what would happen to her tonight, she had given up all hope when she saw the monster that had become of her child. Star had nothing to lose now, and she had no reason to live.

Dwayne had spread his jacket on the floor by the fire. "Star, sit down," he told her, pointing to his jacket. Star looked at him and did as he said. Paul was about to say something when voices came from the shadows of the trees.

Sam approached the fire and dragged two men behind him. "I told you to wait there until we call you," Paul mocked. Sam looked annoyed at him, while David and Marko eyed Sam with raised eyebrows. "If that is not Sam Emerson," David said dryly.

Sam looked at him briefly, then his eyes fell on Paul. "I know, I know," he finally answered. "But we have guests!" He hurled Edgar and his father in front of Dwayne's feet, who looked down grinning at the men. "Markus Frog," said Dwayne. "I thought you had given up the hunt, well, but anyway, welcome to our party, three new family members, three guests, that's perfect!"

Edgar was shocked to see Sam as a vampire. Edgar was speechless and looked at Sam desperately. Markus also went through everything. Both men thought that the two vampires who belonged to the motorcycle gang would kill them and that was it.

The tall blond vampire, whose name was Paul, pointed to a seat next to the woman already sitting by the campfire. "Markus, Edgar, make yourself comfortable by the fire," he said with a grin. "Dwayne and I need to prepare a little something, then the show can start here! It sure will be funny, at least for us!"

Edgar and Markus got up and looked at the vampire uncertainly. Sam threw the rucksack with the weapons next to Dwayne on the floor. "That's all he had with him," Sam said, smiling. Not acknowledging Dwayne, he called Marko, David, Hope, and Laddie by the fire. "Sit down," he offered.

He sat next to David on the ground. Laddie sat down next to Dwayne, then came Sam, Paul, and Marko. Star now sat next to Hope, who did not leave her father's side. Markus and Edgar sat next to Marko and looked at the wooden stakes that had fallen out of the backpack when it hit the ground. Paul noticed the hunters' eyes and grinned, then he pushed the stakes in the direction of Marko with one foot so that Edgar and Markus could not reach them anymore.

Paul pulled three small bottles from his jacket pocket, "Hope, would you like to give this gift to your daddy," he asked smiling. Hope smiled back and stood up. "What's that," she asked as she took the bottle. Paul laughed happily. I bet your dad knows exactly what this is! " David looked at Paul and nodded, smiling.

Hope sat down again and gave the bottle to David. He took the bottle and put his arm around his daughter. "Thanks, little one," he said with a grin. Paul gave the other two bottles Marko and Laddie. Star glanced despondently at Laddie. "Do not do that," she said only. Paul and Dwayne just laughed at her. Edgar watched the process with an angry face. "Damn, that cannot be serious," he mumbled. "Why are you not a little thankful that you have got your humanity back?"

"You have no idea what you did to us back then," Marko slammed in response to him, then he opened his bottle and drank it all at once. Laddie and David followed suit. The four vampires cheered, jumped up and danced euphorically around the fire.

Edgar made an effort to grab the pegs, but Paul kicked his hand with full force. Edgar cried out in pain, his hand was broken. Markus jumped up to help his son, but Sam immediately had him in an iron grip. The vampire kicked the hunter's right kneecap, there was a crackling noise. "Not a good idea, old man," Dwayne said when Markus fell to the floor, screaming. The vampires continued their joyful dance.

Star was trying to reach the hunters' weapons, but David held her with a laugh. "Star, do you want to kill us again," he asked. With Star in the iron grip, David looked over at Marko and Laddie. They looked happy but hungry. The three new half vampires felt a bit dizzy as the effect of the vampire blood started.

David looked at Star, then he grabbed her, his face changed, his catches fell from his gums, and he bit down. Marko and Laddie had attacked Markus and Edgar. After a while, they lowered the lifeless bodies of the three victims to the ground.

Paul, Dwayne, Hope, and Sam hugged the three new family members and rejoiced. David and Marko felt their strength coming back, but they were newborn vampires, and so was Laddie. They had to sleep now, that was all they could do at the moment. Tomorrow would be another night.

Dwayne, Sam, and Paul told Hope to stay at her father's side. The three of them took the remains of Star, Edgar, and Markus. They threw them into the sea, where the sharks would take care of them.

When they were done, they took David, Marko, and Laddie into the cave. David opened his eyes once again. "There is nothing better than home," was all he could say, before he fell into a deathlike sleep, just like Marko and Laddie!

Tomorrow would be another night, and the vampires would have a party!


End file.
